ked for mere subsistence; and of how long he lived
there, and where he died, there is no trace.

"Do I weary you, my dear lady, with these small details of very humble
people, or do you really bestow any interest on my story?"

"I like it of all things. I only want to follow Carlotta's history now,
and learn what became of her."

"Of her fate and fortune I know nothing. Indeed, all that I have been
telling you heretofore I have gleaned from that book and some old
letters of my great-grandfather's. My own history I will not inflict
upon you--at least not now. I was a student of the Naval College of
Genoa till I was fourteen, and called Anatole Pracontal, 'dit' Lami;
but who had entered me on the books of the college, who paid for me or
interested himself about me, I never knew.

"A boyish scrape I fell into induced me to run away from the college.
I took refuge in a small felucca, which landed me at Algiers, where I
entered the French service, and made two campaigns with Pelissier; and
only quitted the army on learning that my father had been lost at sea,
and had bequeathed me some small property, then in the hands of a banker
at Naples.

"The property was next to nothing; but by the papers and letters that
I found, I learned who I was, and to what station and fortune I had
legitimate claim. It seems a small foundation, perhaps, to build upon;
but remember how few the steps are in reality, and how direct besides.
My grandmother, Enrichetta, was the married wife of Montague Bramleigh;
her son--Godfrey Lami at his birth, but afterwards known by many
aliases--married my mother, Marie de Pracontal, a native of Savoy,
where I was born,--the name Pracontal being given me. My father's
correspondence with the Bramleighs was kept up at intervals during his
life, and frequent mention is made in diaries, as well as the banker's
books, of sums of money received by him from them. In Bolton's hands,
also, was deposited my father's will, where he speaks of me and the
claim which I should inherit on the Bramleigh estates; and he earnestly
entreats Bolton, who had so often befriended him, to succor his poor
boy, and not leave him without help and counsel in the difficulties that
were before him.

"Have you followed, or can you follow, the tangled scheme?" cried
he, after a pause; "for you are either very patient, or completely
exhausted,--which is it?"

"But why have you taken the name of Pracontal, and not your real name,
Braml