“There! was not that a fine specimen of analysis? It was almost perfect, and would have answered most admirably had it not been for one little thing, and that was, simply, that _it was not true_--a trifling objection, perhaps, yet one absolutely fatal. Why, will be seen hereafter. “I was just about half satisfied with my ingenious speculation, and no more, after the first burst of joy at my supposed discovery had subsided, and cool reason once more took the helm. Be it true or false, I determined to go back to Belleville and pursue my investigations a little further. A passing omnibus soon brought me to the _Barrière_, and to my great joy I saw the identical party that had made the curious remark about my being in search of my own ghost. The nurse and children were intently watching the evolutions of a set of nomadic marionettes, and listening to the stereo-type drolleries of the man in the box who worked the little puppets. Luckily the whole party, with at least three hundred others, were so taken up with the antics of Polichinel and his shrew of a wife, that the young ones nor the nurse saw me. I therefore stepped into a coffee-shop close at hand, called for a _tasse_, and then sent one of the waiters to fetch the woman with the three children dressed in yellow velveteen. The man obeyed, and speedily returned, followed by the party sent for. “Upon seeing who it was that had summoned her, the young woman felt alarmed, fearing that the remarks she had made, when I entered the cab an hour or so previously, had offended me, and that my present business was to cause her to be punished for her insolence. For of all places on this civilized earth, Paris is the one where a stranger is best protected from injury or impertinence--at least, it then was. I soon set the woman’s mind at ease on that point; and having purchased some _gâteaux_ for the children, and the same, with a vessel of coffee, for the nurse, I requested her to be seated, and tell me what caused her to use such curious terms, with regard to myself, a little while before.