When he came his
appearance reminded me of the time of his altercation with Baroness
Turckems under the light of the blazing curtains: he had supped and drunk
deeply, and he very soon proclaimed that I should find him invincible,
which, as far as insensibility to the strongest appeals to him went, he
was.

'Deny you love her, deny she loves you, deny you are one--I knot you
fast!'

He had again seen Prince Ernest; so he said, declaring that the Prince
positively desired the marriage; would have it. 'And I,' he dramatized
their relative situations, 'consented.'

After my experience of that night, I forgive men who are unmoved by
displays of humour. Commonly we think it should be irresistible. His
description of the thin-skinned sensitive prince striving to run and
dodge for shelter from him, like a fever-patient pursued by a
North-easter, accompanied by dozens of quaint similes full of his mental
laughter, made my loathing all the more acute. But I had not been an
equal match for him previous to his taking wine; it was waste of breath
and heart to contend with him. I folded my arms tight, sitting rigidly
silent, and he dropped on the sofa luxuriously.

'Bed, Richie!' he waved to me. 'You drink no wine, you cannot stand
dissipation as I do. Bed, my dear boy! I am a God, sir, inaccessible to
mortal ailments! Seriously, dear boy, I have never known an illness in my
life. I have killed my hundreds of poor devils who were for imitating me.
This I boast--I boast constitution. And I fear, Richie, you have none of
my superhuman strength. Added to that, I know I am watched over. I ask--I
have: I scheme the tricks are in my hand! It may be the doing of my
mother in heaven; there is the fact for you to reflect on. "Stand not in
my way, nor follow me too far," would serve me for a motto admirably, and
you can put it in Latin, Richie. Bed! You shall turn your scholarship to
account as I do my genius in your interest. On my soul, that motto in
Latin will requite me. Now to bed.'

'No,' said I. 'You have got away from me once. I shall keep you in sight
and hearing, if I have to lie at your door for it. You will go with me to
London to-morrow. I shall treat you as a man I have to guard, and I shall
not let you loose before I am quite sure of you.'

'Loose!' he exclaimed, throwing up an arm and a leg.

'I mean, sir, that you shall be in my presence wherever you are, and I
will take care you don't go far and wide. It's useless to