amara
begged me not to disturb myself; and she being a lady for whom I had a
great respect, I complied with her desire; but there was a potato-cake,
an inch thick and two feet in diameter, which Mrs Macnamara informed me
in a whisper was made by Dosy after the hunt.

"'Poor chicken,' she said, 'if she had the strength, she has the
willingness; but she is so delicate. If you saw her handling the
potatoes to-day.'

"'Madam,' said I, looking tender, and putting my hand on my heart, 'I
wish I was a potato!'

CHAPTER III.

HOW ENSIGN BRADY ASTONISHED THE NATIVES AT MISS
THEODOSIA MACNAMARA'S.

"I thought this was an uncommonly pathetic wish, after the manner of the
Persian poet Hafiz, but it was scarcely out of my mouth, when Ensign
Brady, taking a cup of tea from Miss Dosy's hand, looking upon me with
an air of infinite condescension, declared that I must be the happiest
of men, as my wish was granted before it was made. I was preparing to
answer, but Miss Dosy laughed so loud that I had not time, and my only
resource was to swallow what I had just made. The ensign followed up his
victory without mercy.

"'Talking of potatoes, Miss Theodosia,' said he, looking at me, 'puts me
in mind of truffles. Do you know this most exquisite cake of yours much
resembles a _gateau aux truffes_? By Gad! how Colonel Thornton, Sir
Harry Millicent, Lord Mortgageshire, and that desperate fellow, the
Honourable and Reverend Dick Sellenger, and I, used to tuck in truffles
when we were quartered in Paris. Mortgageshire--an uncommon droll
fellow; I used to call his Lordship Morty--he called me Brad--we were on
such terms; and we used to live together in the Rue de la Paix, that
beautiful street close by the Place Vendome, where there's the pillar.
You have been at Paris, Miss Macnamara?' asked the ensign, filling his
mouth with a half-pound bite of the potato-cake at the same moment.

"Dosy confessed that she had never travelled into any foreign parts
except the kingdom of Kerry; and on the same question being repeated to
me, I was obliged to admit that I was in a similar predicament. Brady
was triumphant.

"'It is a loss to any man,' said he, 'not to have been in Paris. I know
that city well, and so I ought; but I did many naughty things there.'

"'O fie!' said Mrs Macnamara.

"'O, madam,' continued Brady, 'the fact is, that the Paris ladies were
rather too fond of us English. When I say English, I mean Scotch and
Irish as well;