ose stirring incidents with which his
abounded. The characters and the scene are all of home growth. It has
neither remoteness in point of time, nor distance in country, to lend
it attraction. It has, however, one merit which my learned friend might
reasonably envy, and this is, that it is true. Yes, gentlemen, every
particular I have stated is a fact. I will prove it by a witness whose
evidence will be beyond gainsay. The wager was accepted, and for a
considerable sum too, and a dinnerparty arranged as the occasion by
which to test it. The secrecy which I wish to observe as to the actors
in this most unpardonable piece of levity will prevent my mentioning the
names of those most deeply implicated. One who does not stand in this
unenviable category is now in court, and I will call him before you."

Colonel Whyte Morris was now called to appear, and, after a brief delay,
a tall, soldier-like, and handsome man, somewhat advanced in life,
ascended the witness-table. I had no recollection of ever having seen
him before; but it is needless to say with what anxiety I followed every
word he uttered.

The ordinary preliminaries over, he was asked if he remembered a certain
dinner-party, of which he was a guest, on a certain day in the autumn of
the year.

He remembered it perfectly, and recounted that it was not easily to be
forgotten, since it took place to decide a very extraordinary wager, the
circumstances of which he briefly related.

"Gentleman Jack was the individual selected by a friend of mine,"
said he, "and who should succeed in winning his Royal Highnesses good
opinion, so as to obtain a flattering estimate of his manners and
good-breeding. To what precise extent the praise was to go was not
specified. There was nothing beyond a gentleman-like understanding that
if Jack passed muster as a man of fashion and ton, his backer was to
have won; if, on the contrary, the Prince should detect any anomalies
in his breeding, so as to throw suspicion upon his real rank, then the
wager was lost.

"I was present," said the Colonel, "when the ceremony of presenting him
to the Prince took place; I did not know the man myself, nor had I
the slightest suspicion of any trick being practised. I had recently
returned from foreign service, and was almost a stranger to all the
company. Standing close beside Colonel O'Kelly, however, I overheard
what passed, and as the words were really very remarkable, under the
circumstances, I ha