e. As I gained the top, I found myself
in front of a very short, very fat man, dressed in a suit of striped
gingham, like an over-plethoric zebra, and wheezing painfully, in part
from asthma, in part from agitation. He began again,--

"What the hangman do you mean by such a row? Have you no manners, no
education? Where were you brought up that you enter a dwelling-house
like a city in storm?"

"Who is this insolent creature that dares to address me in this
wise? What ignorant menial can have so far forgotten my rank and his
insignificance?"

"I'll tell you all that presently," said he; "there 's his Excellency's
bell." And he bustled away, as fast as his unwieldy size would permit,
to his master's room.

I was outraged and indignant There was I, Potts,--no,
Pottinger,--Algernon Sydney Pottinger,--on my way to Italy and Greece,
turning from my direct road to consign with safety a despatch-bag which
many a less conscientious man would have chucked out of his carriage
window and forgotten; there I stood to be insulted by a miserable
stone-polishing, floor-scrubbing, carpet-twigging Haus-knecht? Was this
to be borne? Was it to be endured? Was a man of station, family, and
attainments to be the object of such indignity?

Just as I had uttered this speech aloud, a very gentle voice addressed
me, saying,--

"Perhaps I can assist you? Will you be good enough to say what you
want?"

I started suddenly, looked up, and whom should I see before me but that
Miss Herbert, the beautiful girl in deep mourning that I had met at
Milford, and who now, in the same pale loveliness, turned on me a look
of kind and gentle meaning.

"Do you remember me?" said I, eagerly. "Do you remember the traveller--a
pale young man, with a Glengarry cap and a plaid overcoat--who met you
at Milford?"

"Perfectly," said she, with a slight twitch about the mouth like a
struggle against a smile. "Will you allow me to repay you now for your
politeness then? Do you wish to see his Excellency?"

I 'm not very sure what it was I replied, but I know well what was
passing through my head. If my thoughts could have spoken, it would have
been in this wise,--

"Angel of loveliness, I don't care a brass farthing for his Excellency.
It is not a matter of the slightest moment to me if I never set eyes on
him. Let me but speak to you, tell you the deep impression you have
made upon my heart; how, in my ardor to serve you, I have already been
involved in an