By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob’s ladder, the man was no longer hanging from his rope!

So this is an event which M. Moncharmin thinks natural. A man hangs at the end of a rope; they go to cut him down; the rope has disappeared. Oh, M. Moncharmin found a very simple explanation! Listen to him:

It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye.

It was just after the ballet; and leaders and dancing-girls lost no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye.