eplied, "that it is all very foolish and
discreditable, but if we live with the gay and pretty fellows, we must
do as they do. Besides, how could I get rid of my money, which burns in
my pocket, if I did not spend as much in one day as would suffice for
three weeks?"

"Still I would rather dress a wound gained in an honourable contest with
the enemy than one received in a night brawl, and I would rather see you
commanding your men in action than reeling with other drunkards in
search of a quarrel in the streets."

"I feel that it is beneath me, and I'm sure that it's beneath you. You
are a Mentor without a beard," replied Captain Levee. "But still it
requires no beard to discover that I have made an ass of myself. Now,
what do you say, shall we take lodgings and live more reputably, for
while in this tavern we never shall be able to do so?"

"I should prefer it, to tell you the honest truth," I replied, "for I
have no pleasure in our present life."

"Be it so, then," he replied. "I will tell them that I take lodgings,
that I may be near to a fair lady. That will be a good and sufficient
excuse."

The next day we secured lodgings to our satisfaction, and removed into
them, leaving our horses and men at the tavern. We boarded with the
family, and as there were others who did the same, we had a very
pleasant society, especially as there were many of the other sex among
the boarders. The first day that we sat down to dinner, I found myself
by the side of a young man of pleasing manners, although with much of
the coxcomb in his apparel. His dress was very gay and very expensive,
and he wore a diamond-hilted sword and diamond buckles--at least so they
appeared to me, as I was not sufficient connoisseur to distinguish the
brilliant from the paste. He was very affable and talkative, and before
dinner was over gave me the history of many of the people present.

"Who is the dame in the blue stomacher?" I inquired.

"You mean the prettiest of the two, I suppose," he replied, "that one
with the patches under the eye? She is a widow, having just buried an
old man of sixty, to whom she was sacrificed by her mother. But
although the old fellow was as rich as a Jew, he found such fault with
the lady's conduct that he left all his money away from her. This is
not generally known, and she takes care to conceal it, for she is
anxious to make another match, and she will succeed if her funds, which
are not _very_ great