Pagina 31 di 3800

"Because I hate ghost stories," said Prince Hippolyte in a tone

which showed that he only understood the meaning of his words

after he had uttered them.

He spoke with such self-confidence that his hearers could not be

sure whether what he said was very witty or very stupid. He was

dressed in a dark-green dress coat, knee breeches of the color of

cuisse de nymphe effrayee, as he called it, shoes, and silk

stockings.

The vicomte told his tale very neatly. It was an anecdote, then

current, to the effect that the Duc d'Enghien had gone secretly

to Paris to visit Mademoiselle George; that at her house he came

upon Bonaparte, who also enjoyed the famous actress' favors, and

that in his presence Napoleon happened to fall into one of the

fainting fits to which he was subject, and was thus at the duc's

mercy. The latter spared him, and this magnanimity Bonaparte

subsequently repaid by death.