rawn into a newspaper discussion, or to become the subject of
comment or remark in such a matter. He wished me to explain his
feelings, and hopes you will not impute his declining to any
want of regard for you, and that you will appreciate the
motives which govern him. I am not at liberty to detail a
conversation I held with him on the general subject of your
letter. He did not show it to me, though he spoke of its
contents.

"Very faithfully yours,

"GEO. EVANS."

Very adroit and very diplomatic, to be sure, on the part of the Baron;
but surely he might have answered yes or no to the first question,
without committing himself. And why not show my letter to Mr. Evans?
Taking the ground he did, however, he forced me to the following
conclusion, namely, that he could not answer _No_, and was afraid, for
reasons of state, perhaps, to answer _Yes_.

And now, what was to be done? Should I prepare a memoir, setting forth
all these charges, with such refutations and such explanations as had
occurred, and appeal to the public. There seemed to be no other way
left.

While I was preparing this memoir, which made a pamphlet of forty-eight
large octavo pages, with the documentary evidence in small print,
General Bratish was at my elbow; and one evening, after I had read over
to him what I had written, I happened to say that I was exceedingly
sorry for the loss of his orders and decorations in Canada,--they would
have been such a corroboration of his story.

"Lost!" said he, "they are not lost."

"Where are they?"

"In the bank, with some other valuables."

"In the bank! When can you get them for me?"

"To-morrow, when the bank is open."

Shall I confess the truth? So sudden and so startling was this
declaration, after what I had seen in the papers about the loss of these
badges and orders in Canada, that I began, for the first time, to have
uncomfortable suspicions. But, sure enough, the next day he brought them
all to me, together with the original contract entered into between
Colonel De Lacy Evans (afterward General Evans) and General Bratish,
with the approbation of Alva, the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of St.
James, whereby it was provided that "John Bratish Eliovich, Esquire, K.
C. C., V. S. S., V. L. H., &c., &c.," should enjoy the rank, pay, and
emoluments of a Major-General in the Auxiliary Legion then raising for
the