were a thousand times Major Frank,
is still a woman--a woman with a man's heart, as good Queen Bess used
to say of herself. I don't know what you intend to do, but it appears
to me you have only to propose--

'Et bientot on verra l'infante
Au bras de son heureux vainqueur.'

She is smitten by you, that's certain! Why, she's like a thoroughbred
horse. With much patience, much attention, and a firm hand that knows
when to be gentle, so one succeeds. As for myself, I was always too
rash, too impatient. These gracious devils soon perceive it, and once
they know it, you are thrown--there's no help for you. After all,
perhaps I am mistaken," he said, seeing I remained silent; "otherwise
I would add that I hope you are rich. Her grandfather is ruined----"

"And by whom?" I interposed; a little hard upon him, I confess,
but his volubility had become insupportable.

"By whom? that's the question. I have contributed my share, I
acknowledge, yet not more than my own fortune which came to me from
my mother, as the eldest and only son. John Mordaunt could tell us
something if he were alive. He got his wife's fortune when they were
married, and Francis ought to have had something when she came of
age; that is if anything were left, for they lived in style--yes,
a style that would have run through any amount. I was sent off to
the Werve with my tutor, for I had begun to understand and to make
observations. After the death of my sister I was never invited to
the house of John Mordaunt. But perhaps it will not interest you to
listen to my old stories?"

"Certainly, I should much like to hear an account of your adventures."

"Well, then, my father was the first cause of my misfortunes,
for he opposed my wishes in everything. I wanted to be an officer;
and my father would not let me go to the military college at Breda
because he was prejudiced against it. He insisted upon my studying
law at Leyden: this, he said, would lead to a fortune. Ah, I have
found a fortune!" he repeated, with a bitter laugh. "Since I was
sent to study for my father's pleasure, I thought it only right
to seek my own; and, as he made me a fair allowance, I was soon
noted as the wildest and most extravagant of students. I kept my
horses and a Tilbury, and ran up enormous bills. Still I attended
those lectures which interested me, and I had just put on a 'coach'
for the final examinations, when my father lost a lawsuit agains