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a wager, have either never been boys themselves, or have forgotten the
boyish nature. I repeat--it is exceedingly hard to comprehend how the
articles could have remained in this thicket undiscovered, for a longer
period than one or two days; and that thus there is good ground for
suspicion, in spite of the dogmatic ignorance of Le Soleil, that they
were, at a comparatively late date, deposited where found.
"But there are still other and stronger reasons for believing them so
deposited, than any which I have as yet urged. And, now, let me beg
your notice to the highly artificial arrangement of the articles. On the
upper stone lay a white petticoat; on the second a silk scarf; scattered
around, were a parasol, gloves, and a pocket-handkerchief bearing the
name, 'Marie Rogêt.' Here is just such an arrangement as would naturally
be made by a not over-acute person wishing to dispose the articles
naturally. But it is by no means a really natural arrangement. I
should rather have looked to see the things all lying on the ground and
trampled under foot. In the narrow limits of that bower, it would have
been scarcely possible that the petticoat and scarf should have retained
a position upon the stones, when subjected to the brushing to and fro
of many struggling persons. 'There was evidence,' it is said, 'of a
struggle; and the earth was trampled, the bushes were broken,'--but the
petticoat and the scarf are found deposited as if upon shelves. 'The
pieces of the frock torn out by the bushes were about three inches wide
and six inches long. One part was the hem of the frock and it had been
mended. They looked like strips torn off.' Here, inadvertently, Le
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