must have mounted to
my face, and given me the look of a clown or a criminal, if the Jew had
but looked at me: but he was waiting my reply with his eyes fixed on the
ground. But the hesitation was soon over; I was almost pledged to
Lafontaine, as a man of honour; I knew that Mariamne, however she might
play the coquette for the day, was already bound in heart to the gallant
Frenchman; and if neither impediment had existed, there was a chain,
cold as ice, but strong as adamant--a chain of which she who had bound
it was altogether ignorant, but which I had neither the power nor the
will to sever. Still it was not for me to divulge Mariamne's secret, and
I could not even touch upon my own. I escaped from the dilemma under
cover of another reason, and also a true one.

Thanking him for his kindness and candour, I observed, "that I was
nothing and had nothing, that to offer myself to the acceptance of one
entitled to wed so opulently as his daughter, would be to pain my
feelings, and place me in a humiliating point of view, in the presence
of one whose respect I ought to deserve." Our conversation extended far
into the night; and I freely entered into the disappointment which I had
sustained in the unfortunate loss of my commission. I added, that I was
determined not to lead a life of idleness, even if I had possessed the
means; and that as the army was the profession which gave the fairest
prospect of being known to the world, I must pursue it if possible.

The idea was fully approved of by my energetic hearer. "Right!" said he.
"It is exactly the thing which I should have expected from you. You have
been ill-treated, I own, but there is no use in kicking at power, unless
you can kick it before you. The machinery of government is too huge for
any one of us to resist, and unless we run along with it, our only
wisdom is, to get out of its way. But you shall have a commission, ay,
even if it cost a thousand guineas. Never refuse; I am not in the habit
of throwing away my money; but you saved Mariamne's life, and I would
not have lost my child for all the bullion in the Bank of England, or on
the globe."

I was surprised by this burst of generosity, but it was real; and the
Jew, as if to put his sincerity beyond all doubt, had torn a leaf out of
his pocket-book, and was writing an order for the sum on his banker: he
laid it on the table. I returned it to him at once, perhaps not less to
his surprise than his offer had been to