catreels; but myself never saw such reels in Ireland, any how. Well, sir, I was looking at the Parleyvous dancing a catreel (I suppose, sir, they call it by that name because all the people face one another, as Jeffrey faced the cat), whin who the divil should I see but the very lady I was looking for."

"What, in a Bastringue!" cried Blake. Impossible ! You're dreaming, man.'

"Oh the divil a word of a lie am I telling you, Master Anthony," replied Larry. "There she was, sure enough, dancing a wallet wid a Parleyvous, wid long mousetaichers, and great jack boots that you might see to shave in, your honour."

""Tis impossible, you villain," cried Blake, indignantly, "that Miss Carlton could be in such a place, and in such company." "Miss Carlton!" exclaimed Larry, with a stare of amazement, "Who the dickins is talking about Miss Carlton at all, sir?"

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I Why, who the devil are you talking about?" demanded Blake, in a voice of thunder.

"Sure, thin, 'tis the divil himself, saving his presence," said Larry," that's betune you and me, any how, this morning; for I never saw you so crass wid me, since the day I leathered the gaugers for bating my mother."

"Once more," cried Blake, "who was it you saw at that cursed Bastringue?"

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Mary Burke, to be sure, sir," replied Larry, "the little girl I have a come-hither' for. Who else should I see but her own four bones?"

"Pshaw!" said Blake; "go on with your foolish story. I think you'll never have done with it."

"Oh, by the powers, I'm coming to the crame of the jist now, your honour," said Larry. "Well, sir, as I said before, Mary Burke was dancing a wallet with this Parleyvous, but whin she saw me, she stopt, and blushed, your honour, and well she might; and coming over to where I stud, she dropt a curtsey, and says she to me, Will you gallop, Paddy?' says she. 'No, Miss, I thank you,' says 1, for I was vexed to hear her call me out of my name before dacent people; 'I'm neither a race-horse nor a carthorse,' says I; and, moreover,' says I, my name isn't Paddy, but Larry,' says I, ' and to the divil I pitch your French compliments,' says I."

66

Why, you booby," interrupted Blake, "the poor girl was paying you a real compliment that you very little merited, by asking you to dance a gallopade with her."

"Eh, then, Master Anthony," cried Larry, abashed at his own stupidity, "is there railly a dance called by that name? Faith it must be so, sure enough, for the crather looked more sorry than angry; and the dhrop stud in her eye whin she went back to

her partner. They said he belonged to the regiment of Queerasses at Waterloo, and a mighty saucy-looking chap he was; and more, betoken, what does my gentleman do, whin they were dancing the wallet, but he puts his arm round Mary's waist, and gives her a loving squeeze. Oho,' thinks I to myself, I'll pay you for that, my lad;' so, without saying another word, good, bad, or indifferent, I wint up to the Parleyvous, right forenint him, your honour, and I gave him a douse in the chops, that knocked him boots over head in the twinkling of a bed-post. Oh, faith, I'll engage there was a divil of a hullabaloo then, any how. Poor Mary went into fits, and all the Parleyvous gother about me, jabbering their unnatural gibberish, like so many monkeys wid the delirious trimmings, and they called for the brigadier and the gin darbies; when up jumped the Parleyvous that I knocked down, and made at me wid his drawn sword, frothing at the mouth like a madman. Oh, faith, then I thought 'twas all over wid me but the shout, and I was looking about for some neighbour's son to carry me out and bury me dacently, whin what should I see but a pitchfork standing up agin the wall of the Badstring. Wid one jump over the heads of the people, I caught hould of the fork, and charged bayonets on the Parleyvous, who retreated, cutting right and left with his long sword, and capering like a rope-dancer. But I made him take side-step to the rear, till he came whack up with his back agin the house; and his fine long pig-tail dangling over his shoulder, I pinned it to the wall with a prod of the pitchfork; and there he stuck, making as many faces as would frighten a horse from his oats, or a cat into hystericks. Oh! by the powers, it would do your heart good to hear the shouts of the boys, and the scrames of the women, when they saw the Queer-ass grinning and shaking, like a pig in a palsy, stuck up agin the wall of the Badstring; but the gin darbies came at last, and spilte the fun; bad luck to them! They rescued the Parleyvous, and clapped me into a fi-aker, whin I was marched off to the stone-jug, where they locked me up safe enough in a place they could find me next morning. That's the whole of it, sir; I'll take my bible oath, if I was on my knees at the altar, saying a padhereen-ave, your honour."

Our hero could scarcely help laughing at Larry's adventure, though he reprehended him pretty sharply for his singular propensity to quarrelling, strongly recommended him to be more cautious in future, and finally threatened to dismiss him from his service the next time he offended in a similar manner.

"Divil burn me," said Larry, "if ever I go to a Badstring in the Sham Elizas again, if I live to the age of Matthew Sullivan !"

THE PRESIDENT'S WIFE.

A TALE.

CHAPTER I.

ONE gloomy December evening, towards the end of the 17th century, a man was seen wending his way along the Quai du Louvre in the direction of the Pont Royal, in Paris.

He

was rather above the middle height, and somewhat slim, but well proportioned; and there was a firmness in his step and an elasticity in his gait, which denoted that the hand of time had as yet pressed but lightly upon his vigorous frame.

The individual's age might be about 40; he was dressed in a long-waisted and full-skirted surtout and loose trunks of black velvet, with a long shoulder-knot and knee-ties of scarlet ribbon, square-toed boots of polished leather, a long cravat, ruffles and collar of embroidery, and a low-crowned beaver looped up at one side with a golden clasp, completed his habiliment, the ordinary one of the cavaliers of that period. His features were delicately moulded, and might, indeed, at first sight have been deemed effiminate but for a singular expression of daring recklessness and dogged resolution which played around the corners of his thin and compressed lips, and a kind of settled regard of wayward defiance, almost of malignity, which flashed forth from a pair of jet black eyes, surmounted by highly arched eyebrows, and fringed with long silky eyelashes. His complexion was swarthy, and his hair hung in thick locks and unpowdered quite down upon his shoulders; his thin moustache was turned up at the ends, and his beard trimmed into a point according to the fashion of the times.

The wind blew in frequent gusts along the dimly-lighted quay, sweeping before it the drizzling rain and sleet which descended at intervals as night closed in, partly freezing as it fell upon the pavement, and producing that slippery compound of ice, snow, and water, denominated "verglas," and which, from some atmospheric peculiarity, is more frequently to be met with in the French metropolis than anywhere else.

The cavalier drew his riding-cloak tighter round him as he pursued his way, carefully disengaging the sword which hung behind him from amid its ample folds, in case of an encounter with the bands of Spadassins and marauders which at that time in

fested the city; and, notwithstanding the patrolling of the soldiery and marachaussée, constantly committed nocturnal depredations. He continued his progress across the bridge, and down the rue du Bac, until he came to the rue de Greulle, into which he turned, and at length, after threading his way through a succession of dirty lanes and alleys, stopped before a house situated in the angle of a narrow street in the neighbourhood of the Sorbonne.

The entrance was by a large porte cochère, and the habitation occupied three sides of a spacious but dismal-looking court-yard.

On the door being opened to his summons, the man was about to mount the gloomy staircase, over which a greasy lamp, suspended from an upper landing, shed an uncertain and flickering light, when a dirty old portress, emerging from some unseen retreat, rudely inquired, "Where are you going?"

"To visit the Signora Orsola," replied the intruder, in no very civil tone, and brushed on without waiting for the sulky nod of permission to enter, which was all the beldame vouchsafed in return.

On reaching the fourth story the man roughly pulled the bell at a small door opening upon the landing; a sliding pannel was immediately drawn back, and the shining face of a negro lad appeared at the aperture.

"What is your will, sir?" said he.

"I would speak with your mistress, the Signora Orsola, if she be alone," replied the other.

"I will conduct you to her, sir," said the lad, unbolting the door, and admitting the visitor into a dimly-lighted corridor hung with drapery of gray damask, in which were inserted metal sconces for lights, at distant intervals.

The young man followed close upon the heels of his conductor as they traversed the passage towards the door at the further end, as if apprehensive that admission would be denied him, and with the apparently settled determination of forcing an entrance should his expectations be realized.

The door opened into an ante-room, hung with the same drapery as the outer apartment; in the centre was an oaken table of an antique form, with huge arm-chairs ranged round it. Large mirrors in ebony frames adorned the corners of the room; on one side, in an embrasure in the wall, was a window of stained glass, and on the other was a door of solid wainscoting, which the negro, taking a key from his pocket, unlocked, and ushered the visitor into a moderate sized saloon, in which sat a female form seemingly absorbed in the contemplation of a pile of manuscripts, some of which were spread out on a table before her, whilst others were scattered around in careless disorder. An alabaster lamp shed a subducd light over the apartment, which was hand

somely furnished with gilded chairs, sofas, ottomans, and consoles, whilst large looking-glasses, richly-painted vases, well-filled flower-stands, and innumerable elegant nicknacks and articles of vertu adorned the luxurious retreat, and a gaudy-coloured Turkey carpet covered the floor, rendering the heaviest footstep almost inaudible.

However, amid all the comfort and petite maitresse-like'elegance of the room, there prevailed an air of studied originality, and an obvious striving after theatrical effect in the distribution of the different articles of furniture, and the whole internal arrangements, which testified to the character of its occupant, while her mysterious calling was at once revealed by the objects that lay upon a table beside her, consisting of two or three packs of cards spread out in various devices, a divining rod, and an old folio in a dirty cover. That the lady combined yet deeper occupations with her ostensible one of fortune-telling and card-drawing, and was also addicted to chymistry and physics, was sufficiently obvious by the contents of an inner recess in the apartment, consisting of an electric machine, alembics, crucibles, and various bottles and odd-shaped vessels, which a half-drawn curtain partially concealed from the observer.

The fortune-teller was of short stature, thin, and delicately formed; her complexion was of that clear and almost transparent olive hue which is one of the chief characteristics of the women of the south of Italy; and her countenance, though possessing no very remarked regularity of features, would generally have been esteemed handsome and distinguished. Her nose was slightly arched, her mouth rather long, but her lips singularly thin and compressed, imparting a character of severity to her whole physiognomy, which was heightened by somewhat prominent cheekbones, and black eyes of almost dazzling brilliancy; her wide forehead was encircled by a profusion of silky black hair, which was dressed in small ringlets, according to the fashion of the age. She was attired in a loose wrapper of black cloth, with deep cape and hanging sleeves, which was fastened down the front by small buttons of scarlet cloth, and confined at the waist by a silken cord and tassels of the same colour. About that critical age when matronly dignity has just taken the place of youthful loveliness, and ruthless Time, ceasing to develop, has begun to destroy, there was an expression of earnest thought upon her brow, and a solemn dignity about her whole demeanour, which inspired an involuntary feeling of respect, if not of awe, and had checked the bold assurance of many a swaggering gallant, and dispelled the unseemly mirth of many a flaunting fair one, among the numerous visitors to her retreat, for the Signora Orsola's skill as a fortune-teller was held in high repute, and her connexion among all classes was proportionably extensive.