In my opinion, it is impossible to create characters until one has spent a longtime in studying men, as it is impossible to speak a language until it has beenseriously acquired. Not being old enough to invent, I content myself withnarrating, and I beg the reader to assure himself of the truth of a story inwhich all the characters, with the exception of the heroine, are still alive.Eye-witnesses of the greater part of the facts which I have collected are to befound in Paris, and I might call upon them to confirm me if my testimony is notenough. And, thanks to a particular circumstance, I alone can write thesethings, for I alone am able to give the final details, without which it wouldhave been impossible to make the story at once interesting and complete.
This is how these details came to my knowledge. On the 12th of March, 1847, Isaw in the Rue Lafitte a great yellow placard announcing a sale of furnitureand curiosities. The sale was to take place on account of the death of theowner. The owner’s name was not mentioned, but the sale was to be held at 9,Rue d’Antin, on the 16th, from 12 to 5. The placard further announced that therooms and furniture could be seen on the 13th and 14th.
I have always been very fond of curiosities, and I made up my mind not to missthe occasion, if not of buying some, at all events of seeing them. N