myself hoarse in the open air. I have been coachman to a baron, and
travelled for a house in the wine trade, but when they wanted to send
me to Holland I had to give up the post. Afterwards I was waiter at
an inn, billiard-marker, valet to the secretary of a Polish count,
who, appreciating my ability at the noble game of billiards, took
me to Warsaw, and hastened to initiate me into his plans for the
'Independence of Poland.' As a matter of course, his enterprise was
unsuccessful; but he got sent to Siberia, and I myself was kept in
prison for some weeks because I refused to give evidence against
him. Again I found myself thrown on the wide world without a penny
in my pocket. But I will not weary you with a recital of all I have
done and suffered. Perhaps the best thing, and the simplest, for me to
have done, would have been to plunge into the Rhine and stay at the
bottom; but I have always had a repugnance to suicide, and, besides,
I have always been blest with a fund of good spirits and health. I
now made a tour of the German watering-places from north to south,
getting along as best I could, and changing my name very often. Once
I was imprisoned with a Moldavian prince accused of murder, but I was
let go, as I could prove my connection with the prince was posterior
to the crime. A report then got abroad in Holland that I was dead,
and I skilfully manoeuvred to obtain credence for it. At last,
weary of my adventurous life, I heard how a member of our family had
succeeded in America, and I decided to try my luck there; but I must
have money. I flattered myself that after ten years my father would
consent to do something for me. I wrote to Francis. The answer was not
encouraging. My father threatened, if I dared to cross the frontier,
he would hand me over to a court-martial. I thought Francis said this
only to frighten me. I came to Zutphen, well disguised, and there I was
convinced she had told me the truth. Francis, poor soul, was the only
person who took pity on me, and you know already what it cost her. And
when I think she could believe me to be guilty of forgery! Oh, the fact
is I would not make her more unhappy by telling her what I suspect----"

"What then?"

"Listen; I have my weaknesses, but I have never been ruled by
passions. I am not 'passion's slave.' Wine, play, and pleasant company
have run away with my money, and in some respects I am no more than
a great baby; but a real passion, a tyrannical passion