There  are  moments  in  which  I   foresee  that


Pvirgatory  83

my  stay  in  Paris  will  soon  be  at  an  end,  and
that  a  revolution  in  my  circumstances  is  at
hand.
The  weathercock  on  the  cross  of  Notre-Dame
des  Champs  seems  to  me  to  flap  its  wings  as
though  it  wished  to  fly  northwards.  Anticipat-
ing my  speedy  departure,  I  hastily  conclude  my
studies  in  the  Jardin  des  Plantes.  A  zinc  bath
in  w^hich  I  make  experiments  in  alchemy  shows
on  its  inner  sides  a  landscape  formed  by  the
evaporation  of  iron  salts.  I  understand  it  is
a  presage,  but  I  cannot  guess  where  this  land-
scape is.  Hills  covered  with  forests  of  firs;
lying  between  them,  plains  covered  with  fruit
trees  and  cornfields;  everything  indicates  the
neighbourhood  of  a  river.  One  of  the  hills  with
precipices  of  stratified  formation  is  crowned
with  the  ruins  of  a  statelv  castle.  I  cannot
make  out  more,  but  I  shall  not  remain  long  in
uncertainty.
June  2oth. — We  receive  an  invitation  from  the
head  of  the  scientific  occultists,  the  editor  of  the
Initiation.  As  the  doctor  and  I  arrived  at
Marolles  en  Brie  we  received  three  pieces  of
bad  news:  A  weasel  had  killed  the  ducks;  a
servant  girl  was  ill;  the  third  I  forget.
On  the  evening  of  our  return  to  Paris,  I  read


84  XHe  Inferno

in  a  paper  the  famous  history  of  the  haunted
house  in  Valence  en  lirie.  Brie?  1  begin  to
fear  that  the  oc'Cui)ants  of  my  hotel  will  become
suspicious,  hear  of  my  excursion  to  I'rie,  and
in  consequence  of  my  experiments  in  alchemy
suppose  that  I  have  set  on  foot  that  humbug  or
witchcraft.
