“Suppose again, Monsieur, if on examining the body of the mantle you should have found upon the taffeta the impression of a very pretty little foot, marked in gray dust, would you not have reflected as I did, that had any other woman stepped on the mantle since its fall, she would certainly have deprived me of the pleasure of picking it up? Therefore it would have been impossible that the impression of the shoe came from any other person than her who lost the mantle. It follows, you would have said that if the shoe was small the foot must be smaller still. There is no merit in my having recognized that; the most careless observer, a child would have found that out. “But this impression made in passing and even without being felt, announces, besides an extreme vivacity of step, a strong preoccupation of mind to which grave, cold, or aged persons are little susceptible. I therefore very simply concluded that my charming blond is in the flower of her age, very lively and distracted. Would you not have thought the same, M. the Editor? “The next day in recalling that I had been able to pick up the mantle in a place where so many people passed (which proves that it fell at the very instant) without having been able to see who lost it (which proves that she was already far away), I said to myself, ‘Assuredly this person is the most alert beauty of England, Scotland and Ireland; and if I do not join America to the rest, it is only because they have become of late _diablement alerte_ in that country.’ “In giving you this mantle, M. the Editor, permit me to envelop myself in my own and that I sign myself, “_L’Amateur français._” CHAPTER XVIII _Look upon my house, gentlemen, from henceforward as the chief of all useful operations to you in Europe, and my person as one of the most zealous partisans of your cause, the soul of your success and a man most deeply impressed with the respectful esteem with which I have the honor to be...._ _“Roderigue Hortalès et Compagnie” Beaumarchais to the Secret Committee of Congress, Aug. 15, 1776._ Memoir Explaining to the King the Plan of His Commercial House—Roderigue Hortalès et Cie.—The Doctor Du Bourg—Silas Deane’s Arrival—His Contract with Beaumarchais—Lee’s Anger—His Misrepresentations to Congress—Beaumarchais Obtains His Rehabilitation. On the 24th of May, 1776, Beaumarchais returned to France. He wrote to the Count de Vergennes the same night: “Monsieur le Comte,