get, dearest, that I have never seen him," said my father,
dryly.

"Does that signify?" said she, with enthusiastic rapidity. "Is he
not known over all Europe by reputation? That dear Emile, so good, so
generous, so handsome, so full of accomplishments,--rides so perfectly,
sings so beautifully. Ah, ma chere, c'est fait de vous," said she to
Polly, "when you see him."

Polly only smiled and bowed, with an arch look of submission, while my
father broke in,--

"But how comes it that so much brilliancy should waste itself on the
unprofitable atmosphere of Ireland? What is bringing him here?"

My mother continued to read on, heedless of the question, not, however,
without showing by her countenance the various emotions which the letter
excited; for while, at times, her color came and went, and her eyes
filled with tears, a smile would pass suddenly across her features, and
at last a merry burst of laughter stopped her. "Shall I read it for you?"
cried she, "for it will save me a world of explanations. This is dated
from our dear old country-house on the Loire, Chateau de Lesieux:--

"'April 20th.

"'Ma chere et ma belle Fifine,"--he always called me Fifine when we were
children. ["Humph!" muttered my father, "read on!" and she resumed:] 'Ma
belle Fifine,--

"'How the dear name recalls happy hours, gay, buoyant, and brilliant with
all that could make life a paradise! when we were both so much in love
with all the world, and, consequently, with each other!' Ah, oui,"
exclaimed she, in a tone so perfectly simple as to make MacNaghten burst
out into a laugh, which Polly with difficulty refrained from joining.--
"'You,'" continued she, reading, "'you, ma belle, have doubtless grown
wiser; but I remain the same dreamy, devoted thing you once knew me.
Well, perhaps we may soon have an opportunity to talk over all this; and
so now no more of it. You may perhaps have heard--I cannot guess what
news may or may not reach you in your far-away solitudes--that the Cour
de Cassation has decided against me, and that, consequently, they have
not only rejected my claim, but have actually questioned my right to
the domain of Chasse Loups and the famous jewels which my grandfather
received from Isabella of Spain.

"'They say--I 'm not going to worry you with details, but they say
something to this effect--that as we were engaged with Law in that
great scheme of his,--the Mississippi affair they called it,--we stand
responsible, in al