most highly accomplished young man. This Larinski came suddenly on the
scene, he cast a charm over the child, and he will marry her."

"What a pity! Is he handsome?"

"Yes; that, to tell the truth, is his sole merit."

"It is merit sufficient," replied the princess, whose gray eyes twinkled
as she spoke. "There is nothing certain but a man's beauty; all else is
open to discussion."

"Pray, allow me to consider matters from a more matter-of-fact point of
view," said Mme. de Lorcy. "Also I may as well confide to you my whole
perplexity: I suspect Count Larinski of being neither a true Larinski
nor a true count; I would stake my life that the Larinskis are all dead,
and that this man is some adventurer."

"You will end by interesting me," rejoined the princess. "Do not speak
too severely of adventurers, however; they are one of the most curious
varieties of the human family. Let your goddaughter marry hers; it will
bring a piquant element into her life; the poor world is so generally a
prey to ennui."

"Thank you! my goddaughter was not born to marry an adventurer. I detest
this Larinski, and I have vowed that I will play him some abominable
trick!"

"Do not become excited, my dear. What colour are his eyes?"

"Green as those of the cats or of the owls."

Once more the eyes of Princess Gulof flashed and twinkled, and she
cried: "An adventurer with green eyes! Why, it is a superb match, and I
find you hard to please."

"You grieve me, princess," said Mme. de Lorcy. "I had promised
myself that you would lend me the assistance of your judgment, your
incomparable penetration, your experienced eye; that you would aid me
in unmasking this Pole, in detecting in him some irremediable vice that
would at once prove an insurmountable obstacle to the marriage. Be good,
for once in your life; may I present him to you?"

"I repeat to you that I am merely taking Paris in passing," replied the
princess, "and I am expected in England. Besides, you do too much honour
to my incomparable penetration. I swear to you that I am no connoisseur
in Larinskis; you may as well spare yourself the pains of presenting
to me yours. I am a good-natured woman, who has often been made a good
dupe, and I do not complain of it. The best reminiscences of my past
are of sundry agreeable errors, and of men skilled in deception. I have
found it the wisest way to judge by the labels, and never to ask any
one to show me the contents of his sack, for I