spancilled or spanchelled fellow—egad! I'm
forgetting the spelling—like me. I never saw
such a brave little Trojan, and, I can tell you,
enjoys everything. I wish to God, Tillotson,
you'd just put a couple of shirts up into a hand-
bag and run over for a week itself. The dinners
alone are worth trying, and the people so civil
and tip-top, you know.

"It's wonderful the way they do things now!
We got down to the boat about eleven o'clock,
and were put on board as fair and easy as you
could fancy. I was going to look after the
luggage down at the Port, when a handsome
officer-looking fellow, with a gold band, said to
me not to take the trouble, as he would look
after it. And so he did; and, I declare to you,
I didn't know whether to offer him anything or
not, for you might as easily insult a fellow of
that sort as not. Faith, I begin to think I was
rather shabby, but they all told me it was the
regular way.

"The boat was no great things after all, and
reminded me of the cabins going to Dublin in
poor old Skinner's day. We were so full, too;
and there was not a berth for the fellow-
traveller, which was a shame. But I found out
the captain—as gentlemanly and tip-top a fellow
as you'd have at your table—and I went up to
him on the deck and took off my hat—for he was
in command, you see—and told him it was very
hard on us, and though in both the Services—the
steward told me he was an old lieutenant—we
ought to rough it, it shouldn't come on the
ladies, the creatures! He then said that, for
that matter, not much was to be got out of
the Services, take which you pleased; to which
I agreed, and said, would he do me the honour
of taking a pinch of some excellent 'high
toast,' of which I was taking over a Cannister.
Well, to make this foolish old story short, the
captain said my lady was welcome to his cabin,
and then we put her in, and I can tell you she
slept all the time like a child. It was only a
little hutch of a place, tied down to the deck
not a word of a lie in it—and there she was
very snug! for there was a little window
through which I looked now and again. A
perfect gentleman as ever I met.

"Then, when we got ashore towards morning,
I declare my old heart was glad to see the
Frenchified look of the place, and the fishermen
just the same, and the John Darms as fierce as
ever, and the custom-house fellows rummaging
our trunks in the old style. Egad! they hadn't
forgot the old style either. For I picked a soft-
looking fellow to give my passport and keys to,
just letting a two-franc piece be mixed up with
the keys, and he took off his hat and gave the
passport to a superior officer in large spectacles,
who called out as if giving the word of command:
'Let Mouseer le Capitaine and his niece
pass out.' I declare I blushed; for she would
put that title into the passport, though, if the
Commander-in-Chief heard of it, he'd call me
over the coals. Then another gentlemanly fellow
said, 'This way, Mouseer le Capitaine!' and
opened a wicket. And, egad! you should have
seen us walking out, and all the fellers making
way. Then my lad—the two-franc lad—uncommonly
knowing he was—got us a cab, and said
he'd have our baggage up at the hotel before us,
which he hadn't though, nor for two hours
after. But it was all one, for we were in no
hurry.

"I wish you had seen the breakfast they gave
us at the Hôtel Dongletair. And we were as
hungry as hunters, I can tell you. Wine and
everything tip-top, and dirt cheap for such a
place, and the landlord like a nobleman in his
manners. Every time we met on the stairs, it
was a deep bow and hats off to the ground, and
'Mouseer le Capitaine!' though I declare to
you I was getting ashamed of myself for going
on such false pretences. Ah! the French, Tillotson,
are a fine people! They take such trouble.
Then, when it came to be time for the train, we
paid our bill and went off in style. In the
carriage up, we met with a nice civil military-looking
fellow, with a handsome beard and moustache,
middle-aged rather, and he was so pleasant to
talk to—to listen to rather; and when he got
out at the station to get some refreshment, I
thought I never saw so fine a figure of a man. Not
at all unlike the Duke of York, the Commander-
in-Chief. He lent us his English papers and his
books, and told us all his travels in Australia,
America, and the North Pole. Quite a tip-top
superior man! You'd have been delighted
listening to him. He had only just landed, he
told us, at Havver, and—would you believe it?
—was going down to Nice also! There was
good luck. But I must stop, for here I
am at the foot of the page, and the fellow-
traveller is to write you a long letter herself
and put this in with it. But I shall write you
again in a couple of days.

"Believe me, my dear Tillotson,
"Yours to command,
"THOMAS DIAMOND,
"Lieut. Royal Vet. Battalion."

Mr. Tillotson read this letter with great
delight and interest. It brought relief to his
mind also. "Well, she is enjoying herself,"
he said, "and will enjoy herself yet more. She
was pining to get away, I suppose. Well, it is
all for the best." Then the negotiation came
in, and some one had him by the button-hole
and in a corner, and his thoughts were taken far
away. Thus days went by, and a week, and three
weeks, and, strange to say, no letter came from
abroad, and the negotiation stood still. Until
suddenly one morning, as the board was sitting
gloomily, and arguing the worst, Mr. Tillotson's
servant came for him, and said that a gentleman
was waiting in his study. It was an emissary.
The coquettish office had come to surrender, to
yield herself to the Foncier for better for worse,
until death, or the Winding-up Act, should them
part.

It was a glorious victory. There was jubilee
at the Foncier. On Mr.Tillotson's head fell all
the glory. It was his work, and he himself was
a little elated. In a day or two the necessary
formal steps had been taken, and four of the
stucco men and plasterers were busy entwining