My Wife and My Wife's Sister (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1881 edition. Excerpt: ...me an irreparable misfortune. They questioned me at great length about the loss of my watch at the Opera Comique. That which at first seemed the act of a mere pickpocket now connected itself with the far greater robbery. I identified the key found in the lock of one of the chests. I knew it by a little notch I had made on it with my knife during my voyage. I had been trusted with the key of the closet, and had several times examined the seals upon my boxes. Messrs. Champigny, Prevost, and their clerks, had been always on these occasions in their bureau. I had satisfied myself, without a light, that the seals of M. de Ste. Helene were unbroken. Next came a question which at once threw light on the position in which I stood. Had I ever known any thing of lock-making? Had I ever made a false key, --or had one made for me? Never I protested before Heaven I had never, so far as I knew, seen a key that was a false one. Then followed endless questions about my social status in America. Where had I passed the previous night? At a country-house belonging to an American gentleman near Fontainebleau. Who were there? Our host, the ladies of his household, a gentleman and his bride from Boston, M. de Lafayette, Madame de Ste. Helene, her sister, and myself. Had I had much intercourse with M. de Lafayette? Not a great deal, --he seemed more interested in the ladies. What had he talked about? I hesitated; and the man who hesitates at any question in a French police interrogation is lost. His talk had been decidedly revolutionary. My hesitancy threw doubts upon my truth, when I replied, after collecting myself, "Of America, --chiefly." What had I been doing from eight o'clock that evening until midnight? I walked two hours in the garden, and went to my own chamber...