pay the value of the draft, and then retiring
into his gloomy little sanctum behind the
counting-house with one of those respectful
bows to fallen greatness a Frenchman knows
so well how to make, when his visitor broke
silence again and was lost.

One of the great secrets of successful
negotiation is to know how to keep silence—never
to speak one superfluous word. Our hero,
however, like all his tribe, was impulsive; and
his way of life had given him an opinion of
mankind which is the most perfectly wrong
of all. He thought everybody on the look
out to commit a robbery where they could
do so with impunity.

It very often happens that a man looks
most stern when he is really most disposed
to yield. This was the case with the banker,
and while the order to his cashier was just
trembling on his lips, the adventurer thought
he saw refusal there.

"I only want the money for a short time,"
he said incautiously, " and if you will advance
me twenty thousand piastres I will give the
bill for thirty."

The game was lost; the player had been
too eager to win. '' I never lend money upon
such terms," said the banker, frozen straightway
into ice.

The rest of the day was spent in sickening
anxiety, in the hopeless attempt of an
unknown stranger to talk people, whom he had
never seen before, out of that which they
valued most on earth—their money. Everybody
to whom the splendid gentleman applied
on that rainy sloppy day, referred him at once
to the great banker, and he went with wet
boots from one sneering trader to another,
mortified and humiliated. In vain he tried
to stiffen his tell-tale under-lip, and to look
his man in the face with those shifty dishonest
eyes. He might indeed correct the huskiness
of his voice from the contents of a little flask
he carried about with him, and put on some
of the usual charm of his manner; but more
was too much for him, and the day closed
with his utter defeat.

Wet through in spite of his umbrella,
bedraggled, dispirited, feeling as if every hair
of his head were made of wire which grew
an inch a minute, he returned to his hotel.
But he was no common Jerry Sneak. There
was the same handsome winning smile for
Madame Bouffet, who stood waiting for his
return; the same pleasant good day for her
husband; the same firm stride and gallant
bearing, as if he had a few loose thousands
for present expenses in the little empty casket
upstairs. To the inquiring looks of mine
host, he said that his bankers were to send to
him on the following day.

But his plans were deranged. He must
hasten his movements during the brief time
of consideration yet left him. Instead of
carrying on a tardy negotiation with the
Pashas to whom he was daily making
presents bought on credit, he resolved to go
in person to the Grand Vizier and offer his
services to the cause of Constantinople.

That worthy received the French Prince
with much distinction, and offered him pipes
and coffee; the pipe-sticks were made of the
rarest and lightest wood, and their
mouthpieces were of jewelled amber. The coffee
was served in dainty cups of gold filagree,
richly jewelled, for all the luxury of the East
has taken refuge in pipe-sticks and coffee-
cups. As the adventurer looked round the
marble hall, with its long vistas opening on
the costliest flowers, the silver tables, the
mosaic pavement, and the smiling Vizier, his
heart swelled within him.

But here he failed. He failed, because like
all his class, he took too radical and summary
views of political matters. It happened that
in the famous quarrel between Constantinople
and St. Petersburg, the governments of Great
Britain and France had promised to assist the
former power in the unequal struggle. It was,
however, for a long time extremely doubtful
of what this promised assistance was really to
consist. Whether it was to be moral aid, or
physical aid, or money, or advice, or
reproaches, and mere meddling. The Grand
Vizier perhaps knew as much about the
matter as most people, but our hero knew
nothing at all. He had therefore blindly
adopted the popular opinion, which was, that
the English and French fleets were merely
waiting in the neighbourhood to seize on
Constantinople during the tumult of the
war, and divide the spoil between them;
just as a brace of lawyers take advantage
of the disputes of individual litigants, to
fill their own pouches at the expense of
both.

Big with this idea, our hero proposed to
the Grand Vizier a notable plan for burning
the two fleets as they lay at anchor, and
thus getting rid of these troublesome and
uncertain friends at once. The Vizier never
moved a muscle while the soldier of fortune
detailed his plan, though the French ambassador
had just left him with the most cordial
assurances of friendship and support, in which
he fully believed.

All Orientals are fond of intrigue. He
continued to listen to his visitor with the
utmost politeness, and when he had
concluded, begged him to put his proposal into
writing, when it should be laid before His
Sublimity the Sultan. The Vizier saw an
excellent means of thus recommending
himself to the French and English ambassadors,
and took leave of his guest with many warm
expressions of thanks.

The Prince had no need to hang his beard
now. He would soon be made a field-marshal
at least, and the field-marshals of
Constantinople were paid a thousand pounds
a month. He had succeeded beyond his
utmost hopes. He had no fear of duns or hotel-
keepers. "After all," he said to the Princess,
as he finished and sealed his proposal