preserved traces of great personal advantages, while his manner
exhibited all that polished ease and courtesy which was said to be
peculiar to the Irish gentleman of the French Court. Addressing me in
English, he invited me to join his meal, and on my declining, as having
already breakfasted, he said, 'I perceive, from your name, we are
countrymen, and as your uniform tells me the service in which you are
engaged, we may speak with entire confidence. Tell me then, frankly, all
that you know of the actual condition of Ireland.'

Conceiving that this question applied to the result of my late studies,
and was meant to elicit the amount of my information, I at once began
a recital of what I had learned from the books and reports I had been
reading, My statistics were perfect--they had been gotten off by heart;
my sympathies were, for the same reason, most eloquent; my indignation
was boundless on the wrongs I deplored, and in fact, in the fifteen
minutes during which he permitted me to declaim without interruption, I
had gone through the whole 'cause of Ireland,' from Henry n. to George
n.

'You have been reading Mr. Madgett, I perceive,' said he, with a smile;
'but I would rather hear something of your own actual experience. Tell
me, therefore, in what condition are the people at this moment, as
regards poverty?'

'I have never been in Ireland, general,' said I, not without some shame
at the avowal coming so soon after my eloquent exhortation.

'Ah, I perceive,' said he blandly, 'of Irish origin, and a relative
probably of that very distinguished soldier, Count Maurice de Tiernay,
who served in the Garde du Corps.'

'His only son, general,' said I, blushing with eagerness and pleasure at
the praise of my father.

'Indeed!' said he, smiling courteously, and seeming to meditate on my
words. 'There was not a better nor a braver sabre in the corps than your
father--a very few more of such men might have saved the monarchy--as it
was, they dignified its fall. And to whose guidance and care did you owe
your early training, for I see you have not been neglected?'

A few words told him the principal events of my early years, to which he
listened with deep attention. At length he said, 'And now you are about
to devote your acquirements and energy to this new expedition?'

'All, general! Everything that I have is too little for such a cause.'

'You say truly, boy,' said he warmly; 'would that so good a cause had
better lea