Baden, where he had good luck at the green table shortly before the
war.

_Fourth, and last_. (This was from the man of Wyoming.) Fortnoye
only retreated to Belgium as a refuge for his demagogic opinions. He
belongs to the innermost circle of the Commune and to all the French
and Italian secret associations. He is represented in the background
of several of Courbet's pictures. He has been everywhere: in Italy
he joined the society of the Mary Anne, where he met the celebrated
Lothair. This order has a branch called the Society of Pure
Illumination. If he has liberty to return into France, it is because
he is connected with the detective police.

The information, extensive as it was, did not altogether satisfy me. I
made little of the inconsistencies betrayed by the various counsels
of the Areopagus, but I closed the whole solemnity with one crucial
interrogatory: "What the dickens does Fortnoye come prowling around
Francine Joliet's house for?"

The answer was not calculated to please me: "She is young and
attractive: Fortnoye advanced the funds to set her up in the house."

But my morose thoughts were distracted by the scene around us. The
moon burst up above the trees of the Oak Wood--a fine ample German
moon, like a Diana of Rubens. Close to our sides passed numerous young
couples, holding hands, clasping waists, chattering gayly, or walking
in silence with a blonde head laid on a burly shoulder. One of
my companions pointed out a specially stalwart and graceful young
apprentice, whose elbow, supported on a rustic bench, was bent around
a mass of beautiful golden hair.