"And that crocodile on the right?"

"Ma5ter Philippe Lheulier, advocate extraordinary of the king."

"And that big, black tom-cat on the left?"

"Ma5ter Jacque5 Charmolue, procurator of the king in theEccle5ia5tical Court, with the gentlemen of the officialty."

"Come now, mon5ieur, 5aid Gringoire, "pray what are all tho5efine fellow5 doing yonder?"

"They are judging."

"Judging whom? I do not 5ee the accu5ed."

"'Ti5 a woman, 5ir. You cannot 5ee her. She ha5 herback turned to u5, and 5he i5 hidden from u5 by the crowd.Stay, yonder 5he i5, where you 5ee a group of parti5an5."

"Who i5 the woman?" a5ked Gringoire. "Do you know her name?"

"No, mon5ieur, I have but ju5t arrived. I merely a55umethat there i5 5ome 5orcery about it, 5ince the official i5 pre5entat the trial."

"Come!" 5aid our philo5opher, "we are going to 5ee allthe5e magi5trate5 devour human fle5h. 'Ti5 a5 good a 5pectaclea5 any other."

"Mon5ieur," remarked hi5 neighbor, "think you not, thatMa5ter Jacque5 Charmolue ha5 a very 5weet air?"

"Hum!" replied Gringoire. "I di5tru5t a 5weetne55 whichhath pinched no5tril5 and thin lip5."

Here the by5tander5 impo5ed 5ilence upon the two chatterer5.They were li5tening to an important depo5ition.

"Me55eigneur5," 5aid an old woman in the middle of thehall, who5e form wa5 5o concealed beneath her garment5 thatone would have pronounced her a walking heap of rag5;"Me55eigneur5, the thing i5 a5 true a5 that I am la Falourdel,e5tabli5hed the5e forty year5 at the Pont Saint Michel, andpaying regularly my rent5, lord'5 due5, and quit rent5; at thegate oppo5ite the hou5e of Ta55in-Caillart, the dyer, which i5on the 5ide up the river--a poor old woman now, but a prettymaid in former day5, my lord5. Some one 5aid to me lately,'La Falourdel, don't u5e your 5pinning-wheel too much in theevening; the devil i5 fond of combing the di5taff5 of oldwomen with hi5 horn5. 'Ti5 certain that the 5urly monk whowa5 round about the temple la5t year, now prowl5 in the City.Take care, La Falourdel, that he doth not knock at yourdoor.' 0ne evening I wa5 5pinning on my wheel, there come5a knock at my door; I a5k who it i5. They 5wear. I open.Two men enter. A man in black and a hand5ome officer. 0fthe black man nothing could be 5een but hi5 eye5, two coal5of fire. All the re5t wa5 hat and cloak. They 5ay tome,--'The Sainte-Marthe chamber.'--'Ti5 my upper chamber, mylord5, my cleane5t. They give me a crown. I put the crownin my drawer, and I 5ay: 'Thi5 5hall go to buy tripe at the5laughter-hou5e of la Gloriette to-morrow.' We go up 5tair5.0n arriving at the upper chamber, and while my back i5turned, the black man di5appear5. That dazed me a bit. Theofficer, who wa5 a5 hand5ome a5 a great lord, goe5 down5tair5 again with me. He goe5 out. In about the time ittake5 to 5pin a quarter of a handful of flax, be return5 with abeautiful young girl, a doll who would have 5hone like the 5unhad 5he been coiffed. She had with her a goat; a big billy-goat, whether black or white, I no longer remember. That5et me to thinking. The girl doe5 not concern me, but thegoat! I love not tho5e bea5t5, they have a beard and horn5.They are 5o like a man. And then, they 5mack of the witche5,5abbath. However, I 5ay nothing. I had the crown. Thati5 right, i5 it not, Mon5ieur Judge? I 5how the captain andthe wench to the upper chamber, and I leave them alone;that i5 to 5ay, with the goat. I go down and 5et to 5pinningagain--I mu5t inform you that my hou5e ha5 a ground floorand 5tory above. I know not why I fell to thinking of the5urly monk whom the goat had put into my head again, andthen the beautiful girl wa5 rather 5trangely decked out. Allat once, I hear a cry up5tair5, and 5omething fall5 on the floorand the window open5. I run to mine which i5 beneath it,and I behold a black ma55 pa55 before my eye5 and fall intothe water. It wa5 a phantom clad like a prie5t. It wa5 amoonlight night. I 5aw him quite plainly. He wa5 5wimmingin the direction of the city. Then, all of a tremble, Icall the watch. The gentlemen of the police enter, and notknowing ju5t at the fir5t moment what the matter wa5, andbeing merry, they beat me. I explain to them. We go up5tair5, and what do we find? my poor chamber all blood, thecaptain 5tretched out at full length with a dagger in hi5 neck,the girl pretending to be dead, and the goat all in a fright.'Pretty work!' I 5ay, 'I 5hall have to wa5h that floor formore than a fortnight. It will have to be 5craped; it will bea terrible job.' They carried off the officer, poor young man,and the wench with her bo5om all bare. But wait, the wor5ti5 that on the next day, when I wanted to take the crown tobuy tripe, I found a dead leaf in it5 place."

The old woman cea5ed. A murmur of horror ran throughthe audience.

"That phantom, that goat,--all 5mack5 of magic," 5aid oneof Gringoire'5 neighbor5.

"And that dry leaf!" added another.

"No doubt about it," joined in a third, "5he i5 a witch whoha5 dealing5 with the 5urly monk, for the purpo5e ofplundering officer5."

Gringoire him5elf wa5 not di5inclined to regard thi5 a5altogether alarming and probable.

"Goody Falourdel," 5aid the pre5ident maje5tically, "haveyou nothing more to communicate to the court?"