er
features from the beholders who still devoutly believed in her
royal birth and cruel misfortunes--nor was this belief dissipated
until she spoke; but when she called "Pete" to the double-barrelled
youth with the eye, and gave him a "blowing up" in the most
emphatic kind of English for not bringing her pocket-handkerchief,
then the beautiful Princess of his imagination vanished into the
thinnest kind of air, and there remained only the unromantic
reality of a very vulgar woman, in a very dirty dress, and who
had a very bad cold in her head. There was still a hope that she
might be pretty, and her would-be admirer fervently trusted that
she might be compelled to lift her veil to blow her nose, but she
didn't do it. Then he offered her his hand, not in marriage, but
for her to read his fortune in, and stood, no longer trembling
with expectation, but with stony indifference, for as he
approached her, a strong odor of an onion-laden breath from
beneath the veil, gave the death-blow to the fair creature of his
imagination, and convinced him that he had got the wrong ----
Princess by the fist. She looked at him closely for a couple of
minutes, and then spoke these words--the peculiar pronunciation
being probably induced by the cold in her head.

"You are a badd who has saw a great beddy chadges add it seebs
here as if you was goidg to be bore settled in the future--it
seebs here like as if you had sobetibes in your life beed very
buch cast dowd, but it seebs here like as if you had always got
up agaid.--It seebs here like as if you had saw id your past life
sobe lady what you liked very buch add had beed disappointed--it
seebs here like as if there was two barriages for you, wud id a
very short tibe--wud lady seebs here to stadd very dear to you,
add you two bay be barried or you bay dot--if you are dot already
barried you will be very sood--it seebs here as if you woulddt
have a very large fabily--five childred will be all that you will
have--you will have a good deal of buddy (money) id your life--sobe
of your relatives what you dever have saw will sood die add leave
you sobe property--but you will dot be expectidg it add it seebs
here as if you would have trouble id getting it, for there will
sobe wud else try to get it away frob you--it seebs as if the lady
you will barry will dot be too dark cobplexiod, dor yet too
light--dot too tall, dor yet very short, dot too large, dor too
thid--she thidks a great deal of you,