“This ended the conversation on that particular theme, and, shortly afterwards, the party dissolved, agreeing to meet again on the night mentioned, which, strange coincidence! was the very one of the singular adventure with ‘the ghost of Ravalette;’ for, to tell the truth, I had by this time begun to suspect that my old man of the Louvre--he who appeared under three different aspects at one and the same time, nay, under _five_, and who was heard to speak, though himself unseen, by the man of the Guinguette--was something more than mortal. “You must bear in mind the fact, that the party and conversation at Mr. Carr’s took place _before_ I had ever seen Ravalette at all to speak with him. And now, if you please, we will continue the train of events in progress before I made this digression. “You will remember that, after making fruitless inquiries for the two horsemen, and an equally fruitless search after foot-prints on the soil near Belleville, that I took my way toward Paris, slowly, on foot, musing deeply as I went along. As I passed down the Rue Faubourg du Temple, the tolling of a distant clock announced the hour of four. I remembered my engagement at the Baron’s, but, as I had fully two hours left in which to dress for the occasion, I determined to drop in at D’Emprat’s, in the Rue Michel le Compte, as I went by, and hear whatever might have turned up in my absence. “I reached the street, and was greatly surprised to find a large and highly excited crowd of people before the gate, and the more so, as I beheld the surplices of at least a dozen priests of the Order St. Lazare, elbowing their way, and trying to pass both in and out of the house. “With heart palpitating with vague and dread uneasiness, I approached an intelligent-looking man, and, assuming a carelessness by no means felt, asked him the cause and reason of the gathering. “‘Lord bless you, sir!’ he said. ‘Do you not know that the devil and five of his imps have just been on a visit to that house, and carried off three or four of the inmates through the roof in a flame of _blue fire_? If you don’t know it, I assure you it is a fact!’ “I saw in this answer the legitimate effect of superstition, and that the man’s cloth belied his intelligence; I, therefore, drew out a sheet of paper and a pencil, and began to flourish them in the eyes of the crowd for the purpose of attracting its attention.