ke;
"but, prithee, my tuneful knight, were those concluding lines extempore,
or had you really the vanity to anticipate the effect of your musical
incantation?"

"And who but yourself, Lucie, would doubt that charms like yours could
give inspiration to even the dullest muse?"

"Very fine, truly; but I will wager my life, Eustace, that mine are not
the only ears, which have been charmed with this melodious ditty,--that
I am not the first damsel who has reigned, the goddess of an hour, in
this same serenade! Confess the truth, my good friend, and I will give
thee absolution!"

"And to whom but you, my sweet Lucie, could I address such language?
you, who have so long reigned sole mistress of every thought and hope
of my heart!"

"Sole mistress in the wilderness, no doubt!" said the laughing girl;
"where there is no other to be found, except a tawny damsel or two, who
would scarcely understand your poetic flights! but you have just
returned from a brighter clime, and the dark-eyed demoiselles of merry
France, perchance, might thank you for such a tribute to their charms!"

"And do you think so meanly of me, Lucie," asked De Valette,
reproachfully, "as to believe me capable of playing the flatterer,
wherever I go, and paying court to every pretty face, that claims my
admiration?"

"Nay, I think so _well_ of you, Eustace; I have such an exalted opinion
of your gallantry, that I cannot believe you would remain three months
in the very land of glorious chivalry, and prove disloyal to the cause!
Be candid, now, and tell me, if this nonpareil morceau has not served
you for a passport to the favor of the pretty villagers, as you
journeyed through the country?"

"I protest, Lucie, you are"--

"No protestations," interrupted Lucie, "I have not the 'faith of a grain
of mustard seed,' in them;--but, in honest truth, Eustace, your muse has
been wandering among the orange groves of France; she could never have
gathered so much _fragrance_, and _brightness_, and all that sort of
thing, from the pines and firs of this poor spot of earth!"

"And if she has culled the sweets of a milder region," said De Valette,
"it is only to form a garland for one, who is worthy of the fairest
flowers that blossom in the gardens of paradise."

"Very well, and quite poetic, monsieur; your Pegasus is in an ambling
mood to-night; but have a care that he do not throw you, as he did, of
old, the audacious mortal who attempted to soar too high. And