The old abbey must have had many and varied functions, if history and romance are to be believed, and to-day its tower and a few short lengths of wall, built into the Lycée Henri Quatre, are all that remain, unless it be that the crypt and dungeons, of which one reads in "Chicot the Jester," are still existent. Probably they are, but, if so, they have most likely degenerated into mere lumber-rooms. The incident as given by Dumas relates briefly to the plot of the Guises to induce Charles IX., on the plea of some religious ceremony, to enter one of the monkish _caches_, and there compel him to sign his abdication. The plot, according to the novelist, was frustrated by the ingenious Chicot. At all events, the ensemble to-day is one most unusual, and the whole locality literally reeks with the associations of tradition. Architecturally it is a jumble, good in parts, but again shocking in other parts. The Église St. Etienne du Mont is a weird contrast of architectural style, but its interior is truly beautiful, and on the wall near the south transept are two tablets, on which one may read the facts concerning Ste. Geneviève, which likely enough have for the moment been forgotten by most of us. The old abbey must have been a delightful place, in spite of the lurid picture which Dumas draws of it. * * * * * Probably in none of Dumas' romances is there more lively action than in "The Queen's Necklace." The characters are in a continual migration between one and another of the faubourgs. Here, again, Dumas does not forget or ignore the Luxembourg and its environment. He seems, indeed, to have a special fondness for its neighbourhood. It was useful to him in most of the Valois series, and doubly so in the D'Artagnan romances. Beausire, one of the thieves who sought to steal the famous necklace, "took refuge in a small _cabaret_ in the Luxembourg quarter." The particular _cabaret_ is likely enough in existence to-day, as the event took place but a hundred years ago, and Dumas is known to have "drawn from life" even his pen-portraits of the _locale_ of his stories. At any rate, there is many a _cabaret_ near the Luxembourg which might fill the bill. The gardens of the Luxembourg were another favourite haunt of the characters of Dumas' romances, and in "The Queen's Necklace" they are made use of again, this time, as usual, as a suitable place for a promenade or a rendezvous of the fair Oliva, who so much resembled Marie Antoinette. * * * * * Like the Rue du Helder, celebrated in "The Corsican Brothers," the Rue de Lille, where lived, at No. 29, De Franchi's friend, Adrien de Boissy, is possessed of an air of semi-luxuriousness, or, at any rate, of a certain middle-class comfort.