ys, she did, I'll own it: I
had the catch of the breath that warns us of convulsions. She was the
morning star for beauty, between night and day, and the best colour of
both. Welshmen and Irishmen and Englishmen tumbled into the pit, which
seeing her was, and there we jostled for a glimpse quite companionably;
we were too hungry for quarrelling; and to say, I was one of 'm, is a
title to subsequent friendship. True; only mark me, Philip, and you,
Patrick: they say she has married a prince, and I say no; she's took to
herself a husband in her cradle; she's married ambition. I tell you, and
this prince of hers is only a step she has taken, and if he chases her
first mate from her bosom, he'll prove himself cleverer than she, and
I dare him to the trial. For she's that fiery dragon, a beautiful woman
with brains--which Helen of Troy hadn't, combustible as we know her
to have been: but brains are bombshells in comparison with your
old-fashioned pine-brands for kindling men and cities. Ambition's the
husband of Adiante Adister, and all who come nigh her are steps to her
aim. She never consulted her father about Prince Nikolas; she had begun
her march and she didn't mean to be arrested. She simply announced her
approaching union; and as she couldn't have a scion of one of the Royal
House of Europe, she put her foot on Prince Nikolas. And he 's not to
fancy he 's in for a peaceful existence; he's a stone in a sling, and
probably mistaken the rocking that's to launch him through the air for
a condition of remarkable ease, perfectly remarkable in its lullaby
motion; ha! well, and I've not heard of ambition that didn't kill its
votary: somehow it will; 'tis sure to. There she lies!'

The prophetic captain pointed at the spot. He then said: 'And now I'm
for my pipe, and the blackest clay of the party, with your permission.
I'll just go to the window to see if the stars are out overhead. They're
my blessed guardian angels.'

There was a pause. Philip broke from a brown study to glance at his
brother. Patrick made a queer face.

'Fun and good-fellowship to-night, Con,' said Philip, as the captain
sadly reported no star visible.

'Have I ever flown a signal to the contrary?' retorted the captain.

'No politics, and I 'll thank you,' said Philip: 'none of your early
recollections. Be jovial.'

'You should have seen me here the other night about a month ago; I
smuggled up an old countrywoman of ours, with the connivance of rosy