



Produced by Dagny, and Bonnie Sala





THE MAGIC SKIN


By Honore De Balzac


Translated by Ellen Marriage



       To Monsieur Savary, Member of Le Academie des Sciences.



      [omitted: a drawing representing the serpentine
      path made by the tip of a stick when flourished.]

                            STERNE--Tristram Shandy, ch. cccxxii.





THE MAGIC SKIN




I. THE TALISMAN


Towards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered the
Palais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the law
which protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. He mounted
the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished by the number
36, without too much deliberation.

"Your hat, sir, if