Spanish
blood, admirably fit you for the mission. Shall I ask for it in your
behalf?"

I could scarcely speak, for gratitude. I was longing for some "charge,"
some public station that would give me a recognized position as well as
wealth.

The "Duc" hurried from the room, and after an absence of half-an-hour
came back, laughing, to say: "This was quite a brilliant idea of mine,
for the Minister of Foreign Affairs was just in conversation with the
King, and seeing that they were both in good humor, and discussing the
Madrid mission, I even asked for the post of ambassador for you,--ay,
and, what's better, obtained it, too."

I could not believe my ears as I heard these words, and the Prince was
obliged to repeat his tidings ere I could bring myself to credit them.
"And now for a little plan of my own," resumed he; "I am about to make
a short visit to England, and, better still, to Ireland. You must
accompany me. Of course I travel 'incog.,' which means that my real rank
will be known to all persons in authority; but, avoiding all state and
parade, I shall be able to see something of that remarkable country of
which I have heard so much."

I acknowledged a degree of curiosity to the full as great, but bewailed
my ignorance of the language as a great drawback to the pleasures of the
journey.

"But you do know a little English," said the Prince.

"Not a word," said I, coolly. "When a child, I believe I could speak
it fluently,--so I have heard; but since that period I have utterly
forgotten all about it." This may seem to have been a gratuitous fiction
on my part, but it was not so; and to prove it, I must tell the reader
a little incident which was running in my mind at that moment. A certain
Tipperary gentleman, whose name is too familiar for me to print, once
called upon a countryman in Paris, and, after ringing stoutly at the
bell, the door was opened by a very smartly dressed "maid," whose
grisette cap and apron immediately seemed to pronounce her to be French.
"Est Capitaine,--est Monsieur O'Shea ici?" asked he, in considerable
hesitation.

"Oh, sir! you're English," exclaimed the maid, in a very London accent.

"Yes, my little darlin', I was asking for Captain O'Shea."

"Ah, sir, you 're Irish!" said she, with a very significant fall of the
voice. "So," as he afterwards remarked, "my French showed that I was
English, and my English that I was Irish."

Now, although my French would have passed muster fro