After that time, Melchior, Timothy, and I, again set off for the town of ----, and stopping at a superior inn in another part of the town, dressed as travellers, that is, people who go about the country for orders from the manufacturers, ordered our beds and supper in the coffee-room. The conversation was soon turned upon the wonderful powers of Nattee, the gipsy. "Nonsense," said Melchior, "she knows nothing. I have heard of her. But there is a man coming this way (should he happen to pass through this town) who will surprise and frighten you. No one knows who he is. He is named the Great Aristodemus. He knows the past, the present, and the future. He never looks at people's hands--he only looks you in the face, and _woe be to them who tell him a lie_. Otherwise, he is good-tempered and obliging, and will tell what will come to pass, and his predictions never have been known to fail. They say that he is hundreds of years old, and his hair is white as silver." At this information many expressed their doubts, and many others vaunted the powers of the gipsy. Melchior replied, "that all he knew was, that for the sum of two guineas paid down, he had told him of a legacy left him of six hundred pounds, which otherwise he would never have known of or received." All the town of ---- being quite alive for fortune-telling, this new report gained wind, and after a week's sojourn, Melchior thought that the attempt should be made. Chapter XIII The seed having been carefully sown, we now reap a golden harvest--We tell every body what they knew before, and we are looked upon as most marvellous by most marvellous fools.