said I, bowing, "to address you at all."

"Is your Italian as neat in accent as that?" asked a lady near.

"I believe I am best in Italian,--of course, after English,--for I
always talked it with my music-master, as well as with my teacher."

"Music-master!" cried Herr Ignaz; "what phoenix have we here?"

"I don't think we are quite fair to this boy," said a stern-featured,
middle-aged man. "He has shown us that there is no imposition in his
pretensions, and we have no right to question him further. If Herr Ignaz
thinks you too highly gifted for his service, young man, come over to
Carl Bettmeyer's counting-house to-morrow at noon."

"I thank you, sir," said I, "and am very grateful; but if Herr Oppovich
will bear with me, I will not leave him."

Sara's eyes met mine as I spoke, and I cannot tell what a flood of
rapture her look sent into my heart.

"The boy will do well enough," muttered Herr Ignaz. "Let us have a
ramble through the grounds, and see how the skittle-players go on."

And thus passed off the little incident of my appearance: an incident
of no moment to any but myself, as I was soon to feel; for the company,
descending the steps, strayed away in broken twos or threes through the
grounds, as caprice or will inclined them.

If I were going to chronicle the fete itself, I might, perhaps, say
there was a striking contrast between the picturesque beauty of the
spot, and the pastime of those who occupied it The scene recalled
nothing so much as a village fair. All the simple out-of-door amusements
of popular taste were there. There were conjurors and saltimbanques and
fortune-tellers, lottery-booths and ninepin alleys and restaurants, only
differing from their prototypes in that there was nothing to pay. If a
considerable number of the guests were well pleased with the pleasures
provided for them, there were others no less amused as spectators of
these enjoyments, and the result was an amount of mirth and good humor
almost unbounded. There were representatives of almost every class
and condition, from the prosperous merchant or rich banker down to the
humblest clerk, or even the porter of the warehouse; and yet a certain
tone of equality pervaded all, and I observed that they mixed with each
other on terms of friendliness and familiarity that never recalled
any difference of condition; and this feature alone was an ample
counterpoise to any vulgarity observable in their manners. If there was
any "snobbe