gh reputation of my house."

Thus, in all sincerity, the count spoke of her who had literally made
him, and who, for sixteen long years, had galvanized his empty head.

"In short," he continued, "the loss of my wife so completely upset me,
that I lost all taste for the occupations which had so far been dear
to me; and I set about to find distractions elsewhere. Soon after I had
gotten into the habit of going frequently to my club, I fell in with
M. Thomas Elgin, and, although we never became intimate, we always
exchanged a friendly greeting, and occasionally a cigar.

"Sir Thorn, as they call him, is an excellent horseman, you know, and
used to ride out every morning at an early hour; and as the physicians
had recommended to me horseback exercise, and as I like it, because I
excel in riding, as in every thing else, we often met in the Bois de
Boulogne. We wished each other good-day; and sometimes we galloped a
little while side by side. I am rather reserved; but Sir Thorn is even
more so, and thus it did not seem that our acquaintance was ever to
ripen into any thing better, till an accident brought us together.

"One morning we were returning slowly from a long ride, when Sir Thorn's
mare, a foolish brute, suddenly shied, and jumped so high, that he was
thrown. I jumped down instantly to help him up again; but he could not
rise. You know nothing ordinarily hurts these Americans. But it
seems, as we found out afterwards, that he had sprained an ankle, and
dislocated a knee. There was no one near the place; and I began to be
seriously embarrassed, when fortunately two soldiers appeared. I called
to them, and sent one on my horse to the nearest hack-stand to bring a
carriage. As soon as it came, we raised the invalid, and put him in
as well as we could; I got on the box to show the man the way to Sir
Thorn's house. When we arrived there, I rang the bell, and told
the servants to come down to their master. They got him, with some
difficulty, out of the hack; and there they were, carrying him painfully
up the stairs, and he groaning feebly, for he suffered terribly.

"I was going up before them; and, as I reached the second story, a door
suddenly opened, and a young girl was standing right before me.

"She was evidently dressing, when the noise which we made startled
her; and she came running out. She had only taken time to throw a loose
wrapper around her shoulders; and her dishevelled hair streamed out from
under a k