ed to the higher
flavor being able to detect the difference. It was, then, with as
much surprise as pleasure that they found themselves listening to the
narratives in which not a single noble or lordly personage figured, nor
one singular incident occurred reflecting on the taste, the wealth, or
the morals of their acquaintance. It was no less a novelty, too, for
Cashel to find any one a listener to descriptions of scenes and habits
in whose familiarity he saw nothing strange or remarkable; so that when
the young ladies, at first attracted by mere curiosity, became gradually
more and more interested in his stories, his flattered vanity gave new
warmth to an enthusiasm always ardent, and he spoke of prairie life
and adventure with a degree of eloquence and power that might have
captivated even less indulgent auditors.

It was, besides, the first time that they ever had seen great wealth
unallied with immense pretension. Cashel, perhaps from character,
or that his accession to fortune was too recent, and his consequent
ignorance of all that money can do, whichever of these the cause, was
certainly the most unassuming young man they had ever met. In comparison
with him, the aides-de-camp were princes of the blood; even Mr. Jones
put forth a degree of pretension on the score of his abilities, which
stood in strong contrast with the unaffected and simple modesty of
Roland Cashel.

It is but fair to all parties to add that dark and flashing eyes, shaded
by long and drooping lashes, a high and massive forehead; a brown,
almost Spanish complexion, whose character was increased by a pair of
short coal-black moustaches,--did not detract from the merit of tales,
which, as they chiefly related to feats of personal daring and
address, were well corroborated by the admirable symmetry and handsome
proportions of the relater.

Story followed story. Now the scene lay in the low and misty swamps
of the Niger, where night resounds with the dull roar of the beasts of
prey, and the heavy plash of the sluggish alligator on the muddy shore;
now, it was in the green wood of the Spice Islands, amid an atmosphere
scented with perfume, and glittering with every gorgeous hue of plumage
and verdure. At one moment he would describe a chase at sea, with all
its high and maddening excitement, as each new vicissitude of success
or failure arose; and then he would present some little quiet picture
of shore life in a land where the boundless resources