simplicity, while the orator, cap in one
hand, was wiping his dripping forehead with
the other, could not fail to draw forth a
thankful reply, partly expressed in words,
partly in silver.

Three days afterwards, Mustapha broke
out of bounds again. The same recompense
was given for his recovery, but not without
some feeling of suspicion. But, when the
fugitive's ransom was a third time claimed,
and Zephyr after Zephyr took his turn in the
monkey-hunt, my friend declared from the
balcony of his window, that he would do
nothing for the future in behalf of so expensive
an animal, and begged the battalion
to be informed that he would no longer consider
himself answerable for any debts which
Mustapha might henceforth contract.
Mustapha's rope was broken no more. The
cunning mine was countermined.

The first author of this clever trick (which
would have been perfect if plagiarists had
not vulgarised it), was thinking about his
return to France. He had escaped from the
dangers of the late assault of Constantine;
and he did not forget the horrors of the
Barriere de la Villette, and of the gate of St. Denis.
He thought, above all, about his
lancer's uniform, which he anxiously desired
to sport once more. He commenced a search
then, if not with the hope of finding the
special articles of brilliant costume, at least
of picking up the money to buy them with.
After a two hours' absence, he returned to
his captain. " Captain, will you have the
kindness to take care of some money till I
leave, for fear I should spend it at the
canteen?"

"What is all this? Whence have you
stolen it?" said the captain, surprised at the
amount.

"I have not stolen it at all. Captain. It
belongs to me honestly. And I have earned
it."
"In what way?"

"I am going to tell you. You know that
on the other side of the breach, the rocks are
precipitous. Some men and women tried to
escape from the siege that way, by means of a
cord. The cord broke, and the fugitives were
killed upon a jutting point. Said I to myself:
People who try to make their escape generally
take money with them; so I fastened a
rope round my waist, and persuaded my
comrades to let me down. I hunted right and left
in the pockets of the wretches, and found the
money you see here." It was enough to make
one giddy, only to look up from below to the
face of the rock down which the Zephyr had
to slide.

Meanwhile, the certainty of having a uniform
did not cool his ardour for treasure-
hunting. Believing that the house of the
captain, whose servant he was, contained
hidden valuables, he spent the whole day in
taking off the locks of the uninhabited
chambers. They consequently found their way to
a Jew, who purchased the produce of the
locksmith's labours. A few days after finishing
the bolts and bars, he sold to the same
Israelite a heap of wheat, which ought by
right to have gone to the State. For every
sackful he carried by night he received from
his friend a five-franc piece. " The State,"
he interpreted, meant " himself." It is easy,
from this, to comprehend that in a town taken
by storm, the Zephyr is not scrupulous on
whose property he lays his hands.

At last the Zephyr, in his much-coveted
uniform, finds himself on the way to France.
He bestows a passing smile of gratitude on
the café chantans at Marseille; but his heart
is fixed no longer there. If Mazagran, luckily,
was included in his career, he will proudly
wear the decoration of honour; and this star
of glory, while absolving him from the past,
will probably guarantee his future prospects.
Otherwise he may perhaps turn out the most
turbulent blackguard to be found in his
quarter, or the most thorough rogue that
infests his village.

However, he will have his campaigns to
relate, and three or four handsome scars to
show. A pair of dark and expressive eyes,
moved by his narrative, may perhaps subdue
his untameable character. Will Hercules
spin at the feet of Omphale? The case is
just as likely as not. Hymen will finish the
conquest. Our Zephyr, while dutifully rocking
the cradle, will thank Heaven that all has
ended so well, and pray that his babes may
be like—their mamma.

A SPLENDID MATCH.

Mrs. Chesterton won the day. She was
a good manager and a careful mother, and
understood the tactics of society to a nicety.
The Crawfords and the Macclesfields, the
Thorntons and the Parkinsons were utterly
beaten, and their colours lowered. Mr.
Fitzgerald, of Ormsby Green, had proposed; and
Mrs. Chesterton shed tears as she consented
that he should marry her dowerless Eveline
to his ten thousand a-year.

"For you know, Mr. Fitzgerald—you must
know by your own love—that I am making a
most painful sacrifice for my darling's happiness.
If it were not that she loves you so
much—the fond, foolish child!—I do not
think that I could part with her. But she
has fixed her whole heart on you. What
can I do but make the sacrifice of all that I
have left me now on this earth to love,"—(a
retrospective sob for General Chesterton, who
departed this life fifteen long years ago)—
"and ensure her happiness at the expense of
my own? No, Mr. Fitzgerald I I am not a
selfish mother. Take her, since you love her
and she loves you, and God bless you both!"

Mrs. Chesterton wept afresh. As she sobbed,
Eveline entered the room. Her round,
dimpled, waxen cheeks were flushed. She saw
her mother, with the lace pocket-handkerchief