"Very well," retorted the magistrate. "Perhaps we will do as you
request. Now, there are two questions I desire to ask. If you arrived
in Paris at four o'clock in the afternoon, how did it happen that by
midnight of the same day you had discovered the Poivriere, which is
merely frequented by suspicious characters, and is situated in such a
lonely spot that it would be impossible to find it at night-time, if one
were not familiar with the surrounding localities? In the second place,
how does it happen, if you possess such clothing as you describe, that
you are so poorly dressed?"
The prisoner smiled at these questions. "I can easily explain that," he
replied. "One's clothes are soon spoiled when one travels third-class,
so on leaving Leipsic I put on the worst things I had. When I arrived
here, and felt my feet on the pavements of Paris, I went literally wild
with delight. I acted like a fool. I had some money in my pocket--it was
Shrove Sunday--and my only thought was to make a night of it. I did not
think of changing my clothes. As I had formerly been in the habit of
amusing myself round about the Barriere d'Italie, I hastened there and
entered a wine-shop. While I was eating a morsel, two men came in and
began talking about spending the night at a ball at the Rainbow. I
asked them to take me with them; they agreed, I paid their bills, and
we started. But soon after our arrival there these young men left me
and joined the dancers.
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