The news spread like wildfire. It was a sensation for the neighborhood. Dean Daniel Van den Berg enjoyed a fortune and a reputation so well established that many people refused to believe in the abominable instincts which dominated him. The matter was discussed from every conceivable point of view. Some held that he was a somnambulist and irresponsible for his acts; others that he was a murderer through love of blood, having no other possible motive for committing these crimes. Perhaps both were right, for it is an undeniable fact that moral being, will, soul, whatever name you choose to call it by, is wanting in the somnambulist. The animal nature left to itself naturally yields to the dictates of its pacific or sanguinary instincts. Be that as it may, my comrades were at once restored to liberty. Little Annette was quoted for a long time after as a model of devotion. She was even sought in marriage by the son of the burgomaster Trungott, a romantic youth, who will one day disgrace his family. As for me, I lost no time in returning to the Black Forest, where, since that time I have officiated as leader of the orchestra at the Sabre Vert Tavern, on the road to Tubingen. If you should ever happen to pass that way, and my story has interested you, come in and see me. We will drink a bottle or two together, and I will relate to you certain details that will make your hair stand on end. AT THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE BY ALPHONSE DAUDET [Illustration] _Alphonse Daudet, best known among English-speaking people perhaps as author of the humorous “Tartarin de Tarascon,” written in 1872, was born at Nîmes, 1840, and died at Paris, 1897. For such novels as “Sapho,” “Sidonie,” “Numa Roumestan,” etc., he has been called a stern censor, unsparing in his exposition of, and satire on, the weakness and hypocrisy of human nature. But that he has a warm, sympathetic side to his nature, too, is plain enough in the following story, which, on the whole, is an almost perfect example of Daudet’s art. Jules Claretie said of him that he was a “winged realist,” with a lightness and depth of touch that yet never forgot the realities of life. He was subjective, not objective._ [Illustration] AT THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE BY ALPHONSE DAUDET Translated by Mrs. Dallas Bache. Copyright, 1898, by The Current Literature Publishing Company.