the day should dispel the illusion, and throw me back into the dull
reality which I was hoping to escape from.

There is no adage more true than the old Latin one--"that what we wish,
we readily believe;" so, I had little difficulty in convincing myself
that all was as I desired--although, certainly, my confused memory of the
past evening contributed little to that conviction. It was, then, amid a
very whirl of anticipated pleasures, and new schemes for enjoying life,
that I sat down to a breakfast, at which, that I might lose no time in
commencing my race, I had ordered the most recherche viands which even
French cookery can accomplish for the occasion.

My plans were soon decided upon. I resolved to remain only long enough
in Paris to provide myself with a comfortable travelling carriage--secure
a good courier--and start for Baden; when I trusted that my pretensions,
whatever favour they might have been once received with, would certainly
now, at least, be listened to with more prospect of being successful.

I opened the Galignani's paper of the day, to direct me in my search, and
had scarcely read a few lines before a paragraph caught my eye, which not
a little amused me; it was headed--Serious riot at the Salon des
Etrangers, and attempt to rob the Bank:--

"Last evening, among the persons who presented themselves at the table of
this fashionable resort, were certain individuals, who, by their names
and dress bespoke any thing rather than the rank and condition of those
who usually resort there, and whose admission is still unexplained,
notwithstanding the efforts of the police to unravel the mystery. The
proprietors of the bank did not fail to remark these persons; but
scrupled, from fear of disturbing the propriety of the salon, to take the