an old friend of mine, who owned
the Montgomery Mail, asking for a job. He answered that if I would come
right along and take the editorship of the paper he would make me
a present of half of it--a proposal so opportune and tempting that
forty-eight hours later saw me in the capital of Alabama.

I was accompanied by my fidus Achates, Albert Roberts. The morning after
our arrival, by chance I came across a printed line which advertised a
room and board for two "single gentlemen," with the curious affix for
those times, "references will be given and required." This latter caught
me. When I rang the visitors' bell of a pretty dwelling upon one of the
nearby streets a distinguished gentleman in uniform came to the door,
and, acquainted with my business, he said, "Ah, that is an affair of my
wife," and invited me within.

He was obviously English. Presently there appeared a beautiful lady,
likewise English and as obviously a gentlewoman, and an hour later my
friend Roberts and I moved in. The incident proved in many ways fateful.
The military gentleman proved to be Doctor Scott, the post surgeon. He
was, when we came to know him, the most interesting of men, a son of
that Captain Scott who commanded Byron's flagship at Missolonghi in
1823; had as a lad attended the poet and he in his last illness and been
in at the death, seeing the club foot when the body was prepared for
burial. His wife was adorable. There were two girls and two boys. To
make a long story short, Albert Roberts married one of the daughters,
his brother the other; the lads growing up to be successful and
distinguished men--one a naval admiral, the other a railway president.
When, just after the war, I was going abroad, Mrs. Scott said: "I have a
brother living in London to whom I will be glad to give you a letter."

II

Upon the deck of the steamer bound from New York to London direct, as
we, my wife and I newly married, were taking a last look at the receding
American shore, there appeared a gentleman who seemed by the cut of
his jib startlingly French. We had under our escort a French governess
returning to Paris. In a twinkle she and this gentleman had struck up
an acquaintance, and much to my displeasure she introduced him to me
as "Monsieur Mahoney." I was somewhat mollified when later we were made
acquainted with Madame Mahoney.

I was not at all preconceived in his favor, nor did Monsieur Mahoney,
upon nearer approach, conciliate my simple