resichion; but as fah, sah--as fah as de IDIOTISMS ob de
language goes. Sah--it's gen'lly allowed I'm dar! As to what Marse
Harry says ob de ignobling ob predecessors, I've had it, sah, from de
best autority, sah--de furst, I may say, sah--de real prima facie
men--de gemplum ob his Serene Highness, in de korse eb ordinary
conversashun, sah."

"That'll do, George," said Pendleton, with paternal brusqueness. "Run
on ahead and tell that blank chamberlain that Mr. Hathaway is one of my
friends--and have supper accordingly." As the negro hastened away he
turned to Paul: "What he says is true: he's the most popular man or boy
in all Strudle Bad--a devilish sight more than his master--and goes
anywhere where I can't go. Princes and princesses stop and talk to him
in the street; the Grand Duke asked permission to have him up in his
carriage at the races the other day; and, by the Eternal, sir, he gives
the style to all the flunkeys in town!"

"And I see, he dresses the character," observed Paul.

"His own idea--entirely. And, by Jove! he proves to be right. You
can't do anything here without a uniform. And they tell me he's got
everything correct, down to the crest on the buttons."

They walked on in silence for a few moments, Pendleton retaining a
certain rigidity of step and bearing which Paul had come to recognize
as indicating some uneasiness or mental disturbance on his part.
Hathaway had no intention of precipitating the confidence of his
companion. Perhaps experience had told him it would come soon enough.
So he spoke carelessly of himself. How the need of a year's relaxation
and change had brought him abroad, his journeyings, and, finally, how
he had been advised by his German physician to spend a few weeks at
Strudle Bad preparatory to the voyage home. Yet he was perfectly aware
that the colonel from time to time cast a furtive glance at his face.
"And YOU," he said in conclusion--"when do you intend to return to
California?"

The colonel hesitated slightly. "I shall remain in Europe until Miss
Arguello is settled--I mean," he added hurriedly, "until she
has--ahem!--completed her education in foreign ways and customs. You
see, Hathaway, I have constituted myself, after a certain fashion, I
may say--still, her guardian. I am an old man, with neither kith nor
kin myself, sir--I'm a little too old-fashioned for the boys over
there"--with a vague gesture towards the west, which, however, told
Paul how nea