I lived two years in that
great, splendid unkempt country of yours. Mind your step! Good-by,
little girl, good-by! We must get the men higher up! Tariff for Revenue
only! Hurrah for the Goddess of Liberty! Our glorious American eagle
bathes one wing in Lake Superior and the other in the Gulf of Mexico!
Our foreign commerce would be larger if it were not for our grape-juice
diplomacy! Now for the Maxixe and the Hesitation all at the same time!"

He sprang from his chair and whirled and jerked about the room in a kind
of wild Apache dance. John laughed until his eyes grew wet.

"You've been there," he said, as Lannes sat down again, panting. "You've
proved it, and I no longer wonder at your fine colloquial English."

"I like your country and I like you Americans," said Lannes seriously.
"You are the favorite children of the world, and I say children
purposely, because you are children. You think you are terribly wicked,
but you're not wicked at all. You're mere amateurs in vice compared with
the hoary and sinful nations of Europe. We're more quiet about it, but
we practice tricks that you never dream of. We've made you think you're
dollar-worshipers, but while the dollars are dropping through your
fingers, John, we're hanging on to the francs, and marks, and shillings,
and rubles and gulden and pesos and kronen with a grasp that death
itself often fails to break."

John did not know whether to be pleased or displeased, but finally
concluded to be pleased.

"Perhaps you're telling the truth," he said.

"I know I am. But here comes Madame Crocheville for the dishes. She will
also say: 'Good night my wild and reckless but gallant Philip, and the
same to you young American stranger.'"

"How do you know?"

"Never mind how I know. I know."

Madame Crocheville came in and she looked at the two with satisfaction.
Their appearance had improved greatly under the ministrations of her
good food and drink. She put the dishes on her tray and went to the
door. When she had turned the key she looked back and said:

"Good night, my wild and reckless but gallant Philip, and the same to
you, young American stranger."

Then she went out, closed the door, and the two heard the big key
turning again in the lock. The young Frenchman looked at the young
American and smiled in content.

"How did you know so exactly?" asked John.

"Just call it an uncommonly accurate guess. Now, I think I'll put out
the lamp. The light from the win