sy and fresh as a German, and speaking French
with a German accent. The Colonel introduced the lady to his brethren in
arms as _Madame la Colonelle_, and no one asked any other questions. No
one was ever bold enough to ask if the contract was perfectly regular;
for the Colonel was six feet high, tall as a drum-major, and was not
only a giant, but susceptible as possible, having a habit of translating
logic and syllogisms into sword-cuts and sabre slashes. The widow of the
Colonel, naturally enough, opened her house to her husband's
brothers-in-arms after the fatal blow of the black Brunswicker. The
house of Mme. Bruneval, in 1818, had become a Bonapartist club, at which
the police squinted with unusual forbearance for a long time. We must,
however, say, that the widow soon saw that the illustrious soldiers who
frequented her house did not indemnify her by their conversation for her
expenses. She therefore sought to make the presence of these heroes
available, and mingled with them a few honest people who were fond of
play, from whom the lights, like the altars of the god Plutus, received
the tithe of the stakes. At the widow's the play was high, and all kinds
of games were recognized. All, however, was fair and above board, and
this kind of reputation attracted thither many persons who would not
have met on a field of battle less orthodox. People in good society were
met with there. People who, like the Marquis de Maulear, were unwilling
to play in public, looked for excitement without regard to chance and
society. There the famous match between the Marquis and Lord Elmore took
place. Count Monte-Leone also went occasionally to Mme. Bruneval's,
since he used to meet there many _Carbonari_ and Bonapartists; for, as
we have said, people of the most diverse opinions all united for one
purpose, to destroy what was, and make their ideas triumph from the
wreck of the general chaos.

On the evening of the lesson given by the Prince to the Marquis de
Maulear, the Count presented Taddeo to Mme. de Bruneval, and while the
play seemed animated in various parts of the room, the _Carbonari_
talked in a neighboring room of a plan conceived by several wealthy
Americans who were affiliated with the society, of a plan to bear off
the Emperor Napoleon from his prison at St. Helena, and carry him to
France. Important, however, as the subject was, the Count paid but
little attention to it. He was then at one of the most painful crises of
h