| <The Saturday Review, March 8, 1856>
| <A Terrible Story>
| <pb n="374">
| On the newly-built Pont Neuf, the architectural glory of Henri IV., the 
| crowd of busy Parisians eagerly watched the wonders of a conjuror, 
| Maitre Gonin, whose hatchet face and terrible skill were familiar to 
| all. Among the crowd was one Eustache Bouteroue, who was 
| considerably startled by the conjuror's declaring to him that his father 
| and mother were dead, and that he had been an apprentice for six 
| years to a draper, whose daughter he was on the eve of marrying. <p> "So 
| much for the past. Will you know the future? Let me see your hand?" </p>
| Eustache presents his hand ~~ the lines on it make the conjuror pull a 
| wry face. He calls his monkey to look at it. The monkey also makes a 
| wry face. And, indeed, both man and monkey read in those lines the 
| distinct announcement of Eustache's fate, which was that he would 
| rise still higher than he had any conception of. The flattered apprentice 
| slips a crown into the conjuror's hand, asking for change; but the 
| demand must have been uttered in a low tone, for it was not attended 
| to, the conjuror pocketing the crown, and in gratitude proceeding to 
| explain the meaning of his prophecy. Eustache thought that to rise 
| higher would be to become syndic, 
| <reg orig="&c."> etcetera </reg> Not so. He was to rise in the 
| air ~~ attached to the end of a rope. It will easily be believed that 
| Eustache walked home troubled.
| But, after all, a conjuror's prophecies are only words, and a young 
| bride is an indisputable reality. <hi rend="italic"> carpe diem! </hi> 
| Eustache marries his master's daughter, succeeds to the business, and 
| would be a happy man were it not for an intrusive, obtrusive
| <pb n="375">
| soldier, a cousin of the wife's who makes their house his own. It is not 
| enough for him to dine there daily ~~ he has an ugly way of calling 
| the wife's attention to the least favourable details of her husband's 
| physiognomy. In a word, he makes Eustache jealous and miserable. A 
| quarrel ensues ~~ a challenge is accepted. Eustache, a notorious 
| coward, feels quite puffed up at the thought of his having an 
| appointment at the Pre aux Cleres, and feels like a hero. The next 
| morning, this vapour of vain-glory has melted into thin air. He is far 
| less anxious to show himself on the Pre aux Cleres; and this mediocre 
| interest becomes absolutely null as the hour of meeting approaches, 
| till at last it changes into a determination <hi rend="italic"> not </hi> 
| to be present himself on the field. He employs the better part of his 
| valour, and is discreet enough to stay at home. While applauding 
| himself for this conduct, he is made uneasy by the appearance of a 
| well-known uniform. It is not his rival, but the second of his rival, 
| who calls to say that, as he did not make his appearance on the field, it 
| is presumed that business detained him. Assuredly, nothing else ~~ 
| business it was. Therefore, the meeting is adjourned till tomorrow, 
| same place and hour, when it is hoped no business will interfere. 
| Eustache accordingly employs the day, first, in devising means of 
| escape; secondly, in going to Maitre Gonin for assistance.
| The conjuror is willing to grant him a charm which shall infallibly 
| save his life; but the price demanded is one hundred crowns, and as 
| that is more than Eustache possesses, he exclaims against the 
| exorbitant demand. Besides, after all, the charm may <hi rend="italic">
| not </hi> be what Maitre Gonin says, and Eustache 
| may thus lose both fortune and life. This difficulty is soon settled. 
| Payment need be made only after the event. A day is fixed for the 
| payment, and Eustache pledges ~~ his hand. Gonin grasps it, writes 
| down the day settled for payment, and begins his incantations. After 
| pouring a few drops from an old phial on Eustache's hand, and 
| muttering some Latin formula, the thing is concluded. Eustache feels a 
| sort of electric shock; his hand is numbed; it twists about and thrusts 
| itself out so that the joints crack, and then is calm again as before. And 
| now he goes to the Pre aux Cleres, not very sanguine, but not quite so 
| depressed as he had been. His rival, inwardly laughing at the ludicrous 
| and ineffectual figure of such an antagonist, determines to let him off 
| with a slight scratch. But no sooner have the swords crossed than 
| Eustache perceives that his hand masters him with a prodigious and 
| spontaneous force. The soldier's wrist is sprained in the attempt to 
| parry the first thrust; and with the second, his sword is flying in the 
| air, while that of Eustache rushes impetuously on right through the 
| soldier's body, transfixing him, like a toad in a magic circle. The 
| seconds fly, leaving the dead body on the ground. Eustache flies also 
| ~~ his sole thought now being how he shall escape detection.
| For several days the wretched draper never stirred from his shop. He 
| lived in constant terror of arrest. A thousand gibbets danced before his 
| eyes. In the agony of fear, he went to an old patron, a great lawyer, 
| Maitre Chevassant, and to him confessed the whole story. Chevassant 
| did not give much credit to the supernatural part of the affair, but 
| reassured Eustache, and promised to do all in his power to avert 
| suspicion from him, assuring him that, provided the seconds did not 
| accuse him, he might rest in security. Eustache was full of the liveliest 
| gratitude, which expressed itself in ardent protestations as Maitre 
| Chevassant bowed him out; when suddenly, in the midst of the 
| protestations, these polite bows were interrupted by a terrible smack 
| which the charmed hand of Eustache applied to the rubicund face of 
| his patron. Aghast at what he had done, Eustache threw himself at the 
| feet of the astounded lawyer, and piteously demanded forgiveness, 
| vowing that the blow was a convulsive movement over which he had 
| had no control, and for which he begged pity. Maitre Chevassant 
| compassionately raised him on his legs, and was about to say some 
| gentle words of forgiveness; but no sooner was Eustache once more 
| on his legs than the back of his hand came thwack upon the other 
| cheek, leaving the mark of all five fingers on it. This was too much. 
| Maitre Chevassant ran to the bell, which he pulled angrily; but 
| Eustache pursued him, making the hand come with reiterated whacks 
| on the unhappy cheeks of the lawyer; and what made the scene more 
| grotesque and unendurable was the reiterated excuses and piteous 
| supplications which followed every cuff. Eustache cuffed and 
| apologized ~~ cuffed and wept ~~ cuffed and denied the action of his 
| own hand, which indeed danced round the table and chairs, 
| everywhere pursued by Eustache in a madness of cuffing and 
| apologizing. The servants rushed in, secured Eustache, whom the 
| lawyer denounced as the murderer, and carried him off to prison.
| <p> "I am innocent," </p> protested Eustache, as the gaoler locked him up. 
| <p> "Tudieu!" </p> replied that functionary; <p> "we never have any but innocent 
| men here." </p> While in prison, he received a visit from Maitre Gonin, 
| and he was assuredly not sparing of reproaches; but Gonin told him 
| that it all came from his not having paid the hundred crowns on the 
| day appointed. No sooner was that term expired than the hand ceased 
| to belong to him, and became the property of Gonin. How was this? 
| and of what use could a hand be? Gonin explained that the certain 
| means of finding the philosopher's stone was to purchase the hand of a 
| dead man before his death. Now, Gonin had purchased Eustache's 
| hand, which had been the gage of the hundred crowns. No sooner was 
| the term expired than the hand became his; and from that moment it 
| conducted itself in a way to come speedily into Gonin's possession. 
| <p> "Tomorrow," </p> he explained, <p> "you will be tried; the day after you
| will be hanged; and that very evening I shall secure the long-sought key 
| to infinite wealth and immortal youth." </P>
| The day of execution arrived, and a great crowd assembled to see 
| Eustache hanged in front of the very house where Maitre Gonin lived. 
| Everything went off quietly and orderly. The crowd was dispersing, 
| and the drama was over, when Maitre Gonin appeared at his window; 
| and then, to the horror of the spectators, the arm of the dead man was 
| raised, and the fingers became agitated like the tail of a dog when its 
| master approaches. The crowd pressed round the gibbet, breathless 
| with suspense. Strange cries summoned the executioner, who felt the 
| feet, but declared that no pulse beat. He opened an artery, but no blood 
| flowed; the man was certainly dead ~~ and still the arm and hand 
| continued their strange movements! The executioner got upon the 
| shoulders of the corpse, but the hand came with a fearful blow upon 
| his face, and he, swearing a round oath, took a large knife from his 
| pocket and severed the hand from the arm. It made one bound, and fell 
| among the crowd. <reg orig="Every one"> Everyone </reg> 
| pressed back in horror, and in the clear 
| space thus left, it crawled along the ground, reached the house in 
| which Gonin lived, climbed up the walls like a crab, and thus reached 
| the window where its master awaited it.
| Such, in brief, is one of the stories, and the best told, in the volume on 
| our table. Instead of criticising the book, have thought it better to 
| introduce it to the reader by a sample. There is nothing else so 
| striking in the volume, but there are several characteristic papers by 
| Gerard de Nerval, who, always somewhat <p> "cracked," destroyed </p>
| himself last year in a fit of insanity.