e 'Rebecca'--that being the actual
name of Miss Belle-bouche? Yet I was not in love with that young
lady--and _am_ in love with this little creature of fifteen and a
half, who has passed me every morning and evening, going to school.
Going to school! there it is! I, the great political thinker, the
originator of ideas, the student, the philosopher, the cynic--I am in
love with a school-girl! Well, I am not aware that the fact of
acquiring a knowledge of geography and numbers, music, and other
things, has the effect of making young ladies disagreeable. Therefore
I uphold the doctrine that love for young ladies who attend school is
not wholly ridiculous--else how could those who go on studying until
they are as old as the surrounding hills, be ever loved with reason? I
am therefore determined to fall deeper still in love, and write more
verses, and abolish that old dull scoundrel Coke, and become a
sighing, languishing, poetic Lovelace. I'll go and dance, and feel my
pulse every hour, and look at the weather-glass of my affections, and
at night, or rather in the morning, report to myself the result. What
a lucky lover I am! I will write a sonnet to that thread, and an ode
to the hook;--I will expand the affair into an epic!"

With which gigantic idea Sir Asinus kicked aside a volume of Coke
which obstructed his way, seized a pen, and frowning dreadfully, began
to compose.

CHAPTER XXIV.

HOFFLAND IS WHISKED AWAY IN A CHARIOT.

"What an oddity!" said Hoffland, as leaving the domain of Sir Asinus
behind them, the two students passed on, still laughing at the
grotesque appearance of the knight; "this gentleman seems to live in
an atmosphere of jests and humor."

"I think it is somewhat forced."

"Somewhat forced?"

"At times."

"How?"

"I mean that he is as often sad as merry; and more frequently earnest
and serious than careless."

"Is it possible, Ernest?"

"I think I am right."

"Sir Asinus--as I have heard him called--a serious man?"

"Yes, and a very profound one."

"You surprise me!"

"Well, I think that some day he will surprise the world: he is a most
profound thinker, and has that dangerous trait for opponents, a
clearness of perception which cuts through the rind of a subject, and
eviscerates the real core of it with extraordinary ease. You know----"

"Now you are going to talk politics," said Hoffland, laughing.

"No," said Ernest.

"I do not like politics," Hoffland continued; "t