A small door concealed by a very thick dark _portière_ opened, the curtain was pushed aside, and a short, rather stout lady in a plain black dress appeared in the doorway. She was about fifty years of age, with dark smooth hair and lively black eyes, so keen and piercing, that they were an almost startling contrast to the somewhat puffy and very commonplace face to which they belonged. Piétri advanced. "I thank you, madame," he said, "for receiving us at this late hour. You have already given me such brilliant proofs of your art, that I have brought a friend who is travelling through Paris, and who begs you to unveil his future." "Walk this way, messieurs," said Madame Moreau quietly, in an agreeable voice and with the manner of a lady of good society. And she returned to her cabinet. Piétri and the emperor followed her. This cabinet was a small square room, which had besides the door leading into the salon, a second door, through which visitors could depart who did not care to face those who might be waiting in the other apartment. This cabinet had a dark carpet. The window looking towards the courtyard was concealed by ample thick green curtains. A tall old chest stood against the wall, near to the window was a somewhat small table covered with a green cloth, and before it a large chair in which the prophetess generally sat. Upon the table stood a lamp with a dark green shade, which lighted up the surface of the table, and left the rest of the room in deep shadow. Upon the other side of the table stood a few dark green chairs and a small divan of the same colour. The emperor seated himself in an arm-chair in the shadow, and put his handkerchief to his face. Madame Moreau took no notice. She was accustomed to guests who desired to preserve a strict incognito. She took her place at the table and asked, "Do you wish the _grand jeu?_" "Certainly," replied Piétri, who stood close to Napoleon's chair. "Will monsieur then show me his hand? The left if he pleases." Napoleon rose and walked to the table, so that the shadow of the dark lamp shade fell on his face, and he held out his hand to the soothsayer; long, slender, and soft it looked much younger than his face or figure. Madame Moreau seized this hand, turned the palm upwards, and opened the line between the thumb and forefinger to its utmost extent.