The arrest of General A---- then recurred to the memory of all. This event had taken place after a ball which the General had given. It was after an entertainment given by F---- that he, too, had lost his liberty. On this occasion two other important men had shared the fate of the rich banker, and, like him, they had both been energetic, violent, and pitiless denouncers of a ministry which defied public opinion and outraged the nation. People then remembered that Count Monte-Leone had provoked the conversation--that he had gone farther than any one else on the dangerous ground--and that his daring had surpassed that of the master of the house and his guests. All expected he would be arrested also. This fear was especially well founded, as Monte-Leone concealed neither his liberal opinions nor his revolutionary doctrines, and in fact every thing in his previous conduct pointed him out as one of the persons to whom the attention of the police would especially be directed. People were, therefore, amazed to see Monte-Leone preserve his liberty, and that one of the four speakers who had been most imprudent enjoyed entire impunity. Astonishment, however, was not all, for strange reports were soon circulated, and rumors were heard in every direction. The impunity of the Count became the universal subject of conversation. His private life was taken in hand, and his whole career, as it were, extended on the anatomical table of moral anatomy. The scalpel of public opinion, it is well known, pitilessly dissects every subject it wishes thoroughly to understand. The THEY SAY, that terrible creature to which we have already referred, began to play its part. It was heard every where. "THEY SAY Count Monte-Leone cannot be a stranger to what is passing. He was seen to talk to General A---- on the night of the ball for a long time." "What! Count Monte-Leone?--a man of his rank?" "Ah, these Italian noblemen are all suspicious." "He--a liberal--a revolutionist!" "Listen to me. People often change their opinions in this world, especially when fortune disappears, and want of money and care supervene. _They say_ he is completely ruined, yet he is still very luxurious in his mode of life." "True--that is strange." "Oh, no, not at all. _They say_ the strong box of the police enables him to maintain his style." "That may be." "_They say_, also, that the order to leave France given by the minister was but a trick to divert suspicion and keep him here usefully." "Do you think so? Then he is a villain, and should be avoided. He is a----" "Oh, I know nothing of it--but _they say_ so."