was asked (among other respectable people) to say whether I thought he
was living or dead.



"A whole week has passed--and has been occupied by my new literary
pursuit.

"My inexhaustible imagination invents plots and conspiracies of which I
am the happy hero. I set traps which invariably catch my enemies. I place
myself in positions which are entirely new to me. Yesterday, for
instance, I invented a method of spiriting away a young person, whose
disappearance was of considerable importance under the circumstances, and
succeeded in completely bewildering her father, her friends, and the
police: not a trace of her could they find. If I ever have occasion to
do, in reality, what I only suppose myself to do in these exercises of
ingenuity, what a dangerous man I may yet prove to be!

"This morning, I rose, planning to amuse myself with a new narrative,
when the ideal world in which I am now living, became a world annihilated
by collision with the sordid interests of real life.

"In plainer words, I received a written message from my landlord which
has annoyed me--and not without good cause. This tiresome person finds
himself unexpectedly obliged to give up possession of his house. The
circumstances are not worth relating. The result is important--I am
compelled to find new lodgings. Where am I to go?

"I left it to chance. That is to say, I looked at the railway time-table,
and took a ticket for the first place, of which the name happened to