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"You want to hear of me, my dear? That's some- its name now. But your father may. It makes thing new, I am sure, when anybody wants to hear me restless. I want to write to him, to find out for Not at all well, Louisa. Very faint and God's sake, what it is. Give me a pen, give me a pen."

of me.

giddy."

"Are you in pain, dear mother?"

"I think there's a pain somewhere in the room,' ," said Mrs. Gradgrind, "but I couldn't positively say that I have got it."

After this strange speech, she lay silent for some time. Louisa, holding her hand, could feel no pulse; but kissing it, could see a slight thin thread of life in fluttering motion.

"You very seldom see your sister," said Mrs. Gradgrind. "She grows like you. I wish you would look at her. Sissy, bring her here." She was brought, and stood with her hand in her sister's. Louisa had observed her with her arm round Sissy's neck, and she felt the difference of this approach.

"Do you see the likeness, Louisa ?" "Yes mother. But-"

I should think her like me.

"Eh? Yes, I always say so," Mrs. Gradgrind cried, with unexpected quickness. "And that reminds me. I want to speak to you, my dear. Sissy, my good girl, leave us alone a minute."

Louisa had relinquished the hand; had thought

Even the power of restlessness was gone, except from the poor head, which could just turn from side to side.

turned back, it might have been the death of Mrs. Sparsit in spleen and grief.

She had been descending steadily, to the day, and on the day, when Mr. Bounderby issued the weekly invitation recorded above. Mrs. Sparsit was in good spirits, and inclined to be conversational.

"And pray, sir," said she, "if I may venture to ask a question appertaining to any subject on which you show reserve-which is indeed hardly in me, for I well know you have a reason for everything you do have you received intelligence respecting the robbery !"

66

She fancied, however, that her request had been
complied with, and that the pen she could not have
held was in her hand. It matters little what figures
of wonderful no-meaning she began to trace upon
her wrappers. The hand soon stopped in the midst
| of them; the light that had always been feeble and 'Why, ma'am, no; not yet.
dim behind the weak transparency, went out; and stances, I didn't expect it yet.
even Mrs. Gradgrind, emerged from the shadow in | in a day, ma'am.”
which man walketh and disquieteth himself in vain,
took upon her the dread solemnity of the sages and
patriarchs

MRS.

CHAPTER XX VI.

RS. SPARSIT'S nerves being slow to recover their tone, the worthy woman made a stay of some duration at Mr. Bounderby's retreat, where, notwithstanding her anchorite turn of mind, based upon her becoming consciousness of her titude, to lodging, as one may say, in clover, and altered station, she resigned herself with noble forfecding on the fat of the land. During the whole rising feeling of resentment, even in that face and term of this recess from the guardianship of the at that time, something of the gentleness of the Bank, Mrs. Sparsit was a pattern of consistency; other face in the room: the sweet face with the continuing to take such a pity on Mr. Bounderby to trusting eyes, made paler than watching and sym-portrait a noodle to its face, with the greatest acrihis face, as is rarely taken on man, and to call his

that her sister's was a better and brighter face than hers had ever been; had seen in it, not without a

pathy made it, by the rich dark hair.

Left alone with her mother, Louisa saw her lying with an awful lull upon her face, like one who was floating away upon some great water, all resistance over, content to be carried down the stream. She

recalled her.

mony and contempt.

Mr. Bounderby having got it into his explosive composition that Mrs. Sparsit was a highly superior woman to perceive that he had that general cross

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head.

Under the circum-
Rome wasn't built

Very true, sir," said Mrs. Sparsit, shaking her

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'No, indeed, sir,” returned Mrs. Sparsit, with an air of melancholy.

"In a similar manner," said Bounderby, "I can wait, you know. If Romulus and Remus could wait, Josiah Bounderby can wait. in their youth than I was, however. They had a They were better off she wolf for a nurse; I had only a she wolf for a grandmother. She didn't give any milk, ma'am ; that." she gave bruises. She was a regular Alderney at

"Ah!" Mrs. Sparsit sighed and shuddered.

46

No, ma'am," continued Bounderby, "I have not heard anything more about it. It's in hand, though; and young Tom, who rather sticks to business at schooling I had—is helping. My injunction is, present-something new for him; he hadn't the Keep it quiet, and let it seem to blow over. what you like under the rose, but don't give a sign of what you're about; or half a hundred of 'em will combine together and get this fellow who has bolted,

Do

put the shadow of a hand to her lips again, and upon him in his deserts (for he had not yet settled out of reach for good. Keep it quiet, and the thieves what it was), and further that Louisa would have will grow in confidence little by little, and we shall objected to her as a frequent visitor if it had com- have 'em." "You were going to speak to me, mother." "Eh? Yes, to be sure, my dear. You know ported with his greatness that she should object to your father is almost always away now, and I must anything he chose to do, resolved not to lose sight. Very interesting.

of Mrs. Sparsit easily. So, when her nerves were write to him about it." “About what, mother? Don't be troubled. About strung up to the pitch of again consuming sweet

what?"

"You must remember, my dear, that whenever I have said anything, on any subject, I have never heard the last of it; and, consequently, that I have long left off saying anything."

"I can hear you, mother." But it was only by dint of bending down her ear, and at the same time attentively watching the lips as they moved, that she could link such faint and broken sounds into any chain of connexion.

"You learnt a great deal, Louisa, and so did your brother. Ologies of all kinds, from morning to night. If there is any Ology left, of any description, that has not been worn to rags in this house, all I can say is, I hope I shall never hear its name."

"I can hear you, mother, when you have strength to go on." This, to keep her from floating away.

"But there's something-not an Ology at all— that your father has missed, or forgotten, Louisa. I don't know what it is. I have often sat with Sissy near me, and thought about it. I shall never get

breads in solitude, he said to her at the dinner-table,

on the day before her departure, "I tell you what,
maʼam; you shall come down here of a Saturday
while the fine weather lasts, and stay till Monday."
To which Mrs. Sparsit returned, in effect, though
not of the Mahommedan persuasion: "To hear is
to obey."

Now, Mrs. Sparsit was not a poetical woman;
but she took an idea, in the nature of an allegorical
fancy, into her head. Much watching of Louisa,
and much consequent observation of her impenetra-
ble demeanor, which keenly whetted and sharpened
Mrs. Sparsit's edge, must have given her as it were
a lift, in the way of inspiration. She created in her
mind a mighty Staircase, with a dark pit of shame
and ruin at the bottom; and down these stairs, from
day to day and hour to hour, she saw Louisa
coming.

It became the business of Mrs. Sparsit's life, to look up at the staircase, and to watch Louisa coming down. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, sometimes several steps at one bout, sometimes stopping, never turning back. If she had once

"Very sagacious, indeed, sir," said Mrs. Sparsit. The old woman you men

tioned, sir.”

"The old woman I mentioned, ma'am," said

Bounderby, cutting the matter short, as it was nothing to boast about, "is not laid hold of; but, she may take her oath she will be, if that is any satisfaction to her villainous old mind. In the meantime, ma'am, I am of opinion, if you ask me my opinion, that the less she is talked about, the better."

That same evening, Mrs. Sparsit, in her chamber window, resting from her packing operations, looked towards her great staircase, and saw Louisa still descending.

Mrs.

She sat by Mr. Harthouse, in an alcove in the garden, talking very low. He stood leaning over her, as they whispered together, and his face almost touched her hair. "If not quite!" said Mrs. Sparsit, straining her hawk's eye to the utmost. Sparsit was too distant to hear a word of their discourse, or even to know that they were speaking softly, otherwise than from the expression of their figures: but what they said was this:

"You recollect the man, Mr. Harthouse?" Oh, perfectly!'

"His face, and his manner, and what he said?"

"Perfectly. And an infinitely dreary person he appeared to me to be. Lengthy and prosy in the extreme. It was very knowing to hold forth, in the humble-virtue school of eloquence; but I assure you I thought at the time, 'My good fellow, you are over-doing this!'"

"It has been very difficult to me to think ill

of that man."

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My dear Louisa-as Tom says." Which he never did say. You know no good of the fellow?" "No, certainly."

"Nor of any other such person?"

"How can I," she returned, with more of her first manner on her than he had lately seen, "when I I know nothing of them, men or women ?"

"My dear Mrs. Bounderby! Then consent to receive the submissive representation of your devoted friend, who knows something of several varieties of his excellent fellow-creatures-for excellent they are, I have no doubt, in spite of such little foibles as

to stay her, nearer and nearer to the bottom of this
new Giants' Staircase.

With all her deference for Mr. Bounderby, as
contradistinguished from his portrait, Mrs. Sparsit
had not the smallest intention of interrupting the
descent. Eager to see it accomplished, and yet
patient, she waited for the last fall as for the ripeness
and fulness of her hopes. Hushed in expectancy,
she kept her wary gaze upon the stairs; and seldom
so much as darkly shook her right mitten (with her
fist in it), at the figure coming down.

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"Why, when I invite you to come to my house ma'am," said Bounderby, opening his eyes, “I should hope you want no other invitation."

"No indeed, sir," returned Mrs. Sparsit, "I should hope not. Say no more, sir. I would, sir, I could see you gay again!"

"What do you mean, ma'am?" blustered Bounderby.

"Sir," rejoined Mrs. Sparsit, "there was wont to be an elasticity in you which I sadly miss. Be buoyant, sir!"

Mr. Bounderby, under the influence of this difficult adjuration, backed up by her compassionate eye, could only scratch his head in a feeble and ridiculous manner, and afterwards assert himself at a distance, by being heard to bully the small-fry of business all the morning.

"Bitzer," said Mrs. Sparsit that afternoon, when her patron was gone on his journey, and the Bank was closing, "present my compliments to young

always helping themselves to what they can get hold Promptitude to the national cinder-heap, and re- Mr. Thomas, and ask him if he would step up and of. This fellow talks. Well; every fellow talks sumed his sifting for the odds and ends he wanted, partake of a lamb chop and walnut ketchup, with a glass of India ale?" Young Mr. Thomas being consideration, as being a very suspicious circum- other people who wanted other odds and ends-in usually ready for anything in that way, returned a

His professing morality only deserves a moment's

stance. All sorts of humbugs profess morality, from the House of Commons to the House of Correction, except our people; it really is that exception which

and his throwing of the dust about into the eyes of

fact, resumed his parliamentary duties.

gracious answer, and followed on his heels. "Mr Thomas," said Mrs. Sparsit, "these plain viands

watch and ward. Separated from her staircase, all
In the meantime, Mrs. Sparsit kept unwinking
the week, by the length of iron road dividing Coke-being on table, I thought you might be tempted."

her cat-like observation of Louisa, through her hus-
town from the country house, she yet maintained
band, through her brother, through James Hart-
house, through the outsides of letters and packets,
through everything animate and inanimate that at
time went near the stairs. "Your foot on the
last step, my lady," said Mrs. Sparsit, apostrophis-

"Thankee, Mrs. Sparsit," said the whelp. And gloomily fell to.

"How is Mr. Harthouse, Mr. Tom?" asked Mrs. Sparsit.

"Oh he is all right," said Tom.

makes our people quite reviving. You saw and heard the case. Here was a common man, pulled up extremely short by my esteemed friend Mr. Bounderby-who, as we know, is not possessed of that delicacy which would soften so tight a hand. The common man was injured, exasperated, left the house grumbling, met somebody who proposed to him to go in for some share in this Bank business, ing the descending figure, with the aid of her tally devoting the whelp to the Furies for being so

went in, put something in his pocket which had nothing in it before, and relieved his mind extremely. Really he would have been an uncommon, instead of a common, man, if he had the cleverness. Equally probable !"

"I almost feel as though it must be bad in me," returned Louisa, after sitting thoughtful awhile, "to be so ready to agree with you, and to be so lightened in my heart by what you say.”

"I only say what is reasonable; nothing worse. I have talked it over with my friend Tom more than once of course I remain on terms of perfect confidence with Tom-and he is quite of my opinion, and I am quite of his. Will you walk?"

They strolled away, among the lanes beginning to be indistinct in the twilight-she leaning on his arm-and she little thought how she was going down, down, down, Mrs. Sparsit's staircase.

Night and day, Mrs. Sparsit kept it standing. When Louisa had arrived at the bottom and disappeared in the gulf, it might fall in upon her if it would; but, until then, there was to be, a Building, before Mrs. Sparsit's eyes. And there Louisa always was upon it. Always gliding down, down, down.

Mrs. Sparsit saw James Harthouse come and go; she heard of him here and there; she saw the changes of the face he had studied; she, too, remarked to a nicety how and when it clouded, how and when it cleared; she kept her black eyes wide open, with no touch of pity, with no touch of compunction, all absorbed in interest; but, in the interest of seeing her, ever drawing with no hand

any

threatening mitten, "and all your art shall never
blind me."

Art or nature though, the original stock of Louisa's
character or the graft of circumstances upon it—her

curious reserve did baffle, while it stimulated, one as

sagacious as Mrs. Sparsit. There were times when
Mr. James Harthouse was not sure of her. There

were times when he could not read the face he had
studied so long; and when this lonely girl was a
greater mystery to him, than any woman of the
world with a ring of satellites to help her.
So the time went on; until it happened that Mr.
Bounderby was called away from home by business
which required his presence elsewhere, for three or
four days. It was on a Friday that he intimated
this to Mrs. Sparsit at the Bank, adding: “But
you'll go down to-morrow, ma'am, all the same.
You'll go down just as if I was there. It will make
no difference."

66

asked in a light conversational manner, after men"Where may he be at present?" Mrs. Sparsit

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Pray, sir," returned Mrs. Sparsit, reproachfully, "I have got an appointment with him to meet "let me beg you not to say that. Your absence him in the evening at the station here," said Tom, will make a vast difference to me, sir, as I think you" and I am going to dine with him afterwards, I bevery well know."

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lieve. He is not coming down to Nickits's for a Well, ma'am, then you must get on in my ab-week or so, being due somewhere else. At least, sence as well as you can," said Bounderby, not dis- he says so; but I shouldn't wonder if he was to pleased. stop here over Sunday, and stray that way."

"Which reminds me," said Mrs. Sparsit. “Would you remember a message to your sister, Mr. Tom, if I was to charge you with one?"

"Mr. Bounderby," retorted Mrs. Sparsit, "your will is to me a law, sir; otherwise, it might be my inclination to dispute your kind commands, not feel ing sure that it will be quite so agreeable to Miss Gradgrind to receive me, as it ever is to your own "Well! I'll try," returned the reluctant whelp, munificent hospitality. But you shall say no more," if it isn't a long un." sir. I will go, upon your invitation."

To be Continued.

CHESS.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

JUAN G., C. L., and D. M.-We shall be glad to hear further from these correspondents; but, so far, have not been able

to make use of their contributions.

Mr. KNOTT'S Problem, inserted below, is very clever.

C. G.-In former times, the player stalemated was considered to be winner of the game; but, at present, in such a contingency, it is declared a draw.

J. S.-You are quite right in your solution to Problem No. 1, (as also are C. N. and D. T.] Two Pawns and the move are not quite equal to the odds of the Knight; we don't think that any player in the country could give Mr. M. M. the latter advantage successfully.

PROBLEM NO. II.

BY H. J. B. KNOTT.

posing player should advance his rawn previously OUR CORRESPONDENTS ADVENTURES unmoved, and situated on the next file, two squares,

the first-named Pawn has a right to take the latter, in precisely the same manner as if it had been played but one square.

To avoid the possibility of misconception, we subjoin a diagram, showing the Pawn's capacities for attack, both ordinary and en passant.

The Black Pawn at Rook's third square, is here en prese, or liable to be taken by the White Pawn. The other Black Pawn would be, likewise, liable to capture in the event of its advance either one or two squares The pro

AT THE SEAT OF WAR.

NUMBER III.

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cess in each case being simi

lar; namely, to remove it from

the board and place the White Pawn at Bishop's sixth square

Secretaries and other officers, or members of Chess Clubs in the United States and British North America, are requested to put us in possession of such information as will enable us to publish the times and places at which their meetings are held. Communications on all suojects of interest connected with the game, from amateurs generally, will be always acceptable; and due attention to all queries as to the Laws and Customs by which Chess play is regulated, may be at all times relied upon.

OUR CORRESPONDENT IS OF OPINION THAT CAMPAIGNING IS RATHER THE THING.

White

White to play and checkmate in four moves.

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LIABILITIES OF THE PIECES TO BE TAKEN, AND METHOD OF EFFECTING CAPTURE.

With the single exception of the King, each piece on the chess-board is liable to be captured, or taken prisoner, by any adverse piece, by which such firstnamed piece may be attacked. That is to say, should a player, whose turn it is to move, observe a piece belonging to his opponent on a square to which, were it vacant, one of his own men could be legally moved, he has the right, should he deem fit to exercise it, of removing such adverse piece from the board and supplying its place with his own piece by which the capture is effected.

The Pawn, however, forms an exception to the above rule as to its power and method of attack; and we may as well here remark that technically specking, the term Piece is not generally made use of by chess-players as applicable to the Pawn. Eight Pieces and eight Pawns would be the more usual manner of describing the full muster of each player's forces at the commencement of a game.

The Pawn, although moved straight forward, does not attack in the same direction, but obliquely, or diagonally, like the Bishop, and but one square in a forward direction. It has also the power of taking an adverse Pawn, under certain circumstances,

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en passant (in passing), as we shall now endeavor OUR CORRESPONDENT, DEMANDS FROM THE AUTHORITIES

to explain. Supposing a Pawn placed on the fifth

square of either file on the chess-board and the op

A PALACE, HAREM, AND A FEW OTHER TRIFLES.

AND NOT GETTING THEM HE PROCEEDS

TO WRITE TO THE TIMES.

OUR FUNNY BONE.

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THE "Daily Times accuses the "Herald" of stealing its thunder. We don't know whether the "Times" is injured by the theft or not, but however much thunder it may keep on hand, of one thing we are certain, that just at present it wants a little lightening.

NEAT BUT NOT GAUDY." Why do you always come after tea?" said a lady to our funny contributor. “I come after T.,” he answered, drawing his chair closer to hers, "in order to be near U."

THE Broadway has been lately presenting a piece

called "Ganem." When the theatrical season is fully opened, and all the rival establishments are in operation, it will be so impossible for our playgoers to attend all the places of amusement that we think some of the theatres will have to play Lose 'em.

WHY is Mr. Schuyler, the defaulting President of the New Haven Railroad, the noblest work of God? Because he is a non est man-an honest man.

THE "Tribune" advises us to cultivate our own

It is strange how often it occurs, whenever a person is disinclined to do a thing, that he is laboring under "a cold!"

"Messieurs de Tallard and de Marsein," said the monarch, turning to Louvais, 66 'can reckon a sufficient number of glorious days to efface the memory Even the sun is not without a spot."

Scandal, like a kite, to fly well, depends greatly on of that one. the length of the tale it has to carry.

CURIOUS CHINESE DEFINITION.-The Chinese call a pricking conscience "a hedgehog with all the points turned inwards."

THE GREATEST TRIAL OF PATIENCE.-A Stammer

ing Barrister examining a Stuttering Witness in the
presence of a Deaf Judge.

AN INVARIABLE RULE.-Let the wittiest thing be
who, for the life of him, cannot see it."
said in society, there is sure to be some fool present,

LATEST FROM THE SEAT OF WAR.
GREAT RUSSIAN VICTORY!!
The Russians have taken Themselvesoff!!!
The slaughter was very great.

THREE VISITS TO THE

And again addressing the young soldier, he said, "Are you happy here?"

"Ah! sire,” replied Maurice, "your majesty's goodness leaves us nothing to wish for."

The Marshal de Grancey, governor of the estalishment, advanced and said: "Sire, behold the fruits of your beneficence! Before your accession the defenders of France had no asylum : now, reach those who have shed their blood for their thanks to your majesty, want or distress can never country. And if that which still runs through our veins can do aught for the safety or glory of our king, doubtless we will yet show our successors what stout hearts and willing hands can do."

Once more Louis looked around, and asked in a loud voice: " Well, my children, are you happy

here?"

Till that moment etiquette and discipline had imposed solemn silence; but when the King asked a

osiers; but after reading a column of print advo- HOTEL DES INVALIDES, 1705, 1806, 1840. question, must he not be answered? So two thous

cating the course, we can't say that we " twig" the design.

that you have left your porte-mon-naie on the counter of a corner grocery.

THE TRUE CIRCULATING MEDIUM.-The "New York Journal," which circulates twenty thousand. "How do you live?" said our grand inquisitor to a man who kept a patent weighing-machine. "By more weighs than one," was the reply.

FROM THE FRENCH.

and voices cried together: "We are! we are!— Long live the King! Long live Louis!" A PURSE-ON-AL RECOLLECTION.-Remembering ON the 9th of May, 1705, the soldiers of the Accompanied by the governor and a guard of honor Hôtel des Invalides were ranged in line in chosen from amongst the invalids, the monarch then the great Court of Honor. It was touching to see walked through the establishment. The guard contwo thousand brave fellows, all more or less muti-sisted of twenty men, of whom ten had lost a leg, and lated in war, pressing round the banners which they ten an arm, while the faces of all were scarred and had won in many a bloody fight. Amongst these seamed with honorable wounds. One of them, while victims of war might be seen soldiers of all ages. serving as a subaltern at the battle of Berengen, threw Some had fought at Fribourg or Rocroy; others at himself before his colonel in time to save him, and the passage of the Rhine, or the taking of Mäes- received a ricochet bullet in his own leg. Another tricht; a few of the oldest had assisted in the cap- at the age of seventy-five was still a dandy, and ture of La Rochelle, under Cardinal Richelieu, managed to plait a queue with three hairs which yet while one or two could even remember the battle of remained on the top of his head. In one of the Mariendal under Turenne. But all alike appeared battles his arm was carried off by a bullet. Ah, happy and pleased, waiting for the coming of Louis my ring! my ring!" cried he to a trumpeter next XIV., who had announced his intention of visiting him-"go get me my ring!" It had been a prefor the first time these, as he called them, "glorious sent from a noble lady; and when the trumpeter relics of his battalions." placed it in his remaining hand, he seemed perfectly contented.

CURIOUS PHYSIOLOGICAL AND METALLURGICAL FACT. -Brokers are like razors. The sharper they are, the easier you get shaved.

WHEN a man finds that he has exceeded his bank account by some thousands, the picture of his despair may be said to be over drawn.

THE FALL STYle of Cravat.-The Erie Stock.

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Little by little, as we travel through life, do our whims increase, and become more troublesome-just like women's luggage on a journey.

A girl at school would like to have two birth-days every year. When she grows up a woman she objects to having even one.

The Parentage of a Lie is the most difficult of all to trace. It is, indeed, a clever lie that knows its own Father!

The worst kind of borrower is he who borrows with the intention of repaying, for you know to a moral certainty that he intends to borrow again.

More beggars are relieved for the sake of getting rid of them than from any feeling of charity. They say 66 Friendship is but a name;" at all events it is not one you often see on the back of a bill.

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saluting of cannon, and the shouting of the inmates; The royal procession quitted the Hôtel amid the and the next day, in order to commemorate the event, the following words were engraved on a piece of

At length, surrounded by a magnificent cortège of guards and nobles, the royal carriage approached; and, with that delicate courtesy so well understood by the king, the troops in attendance were ordered to sheathe their swords and fall back, as he entered the gateway. ordnance : "M. de Breteuil," "Louis the Great honored with his said the monarch to the captain of his guard, Invalides, on the 9th May, 1705.” august presence, for the first time, his Hôtel des "the King of France has no need of an escort when he finds himself in the midst of his brave veterans."

Followed by the Dauphin, the Marquis de Lou

II.

vais, and other distinguished personages, Louis ON the afternoon of the 1st September, 1806,
carefully inspected the invalids, pausing now and
then to address a few kind words to those whom he
recognised. One very young lad chanced to attract
the King's attention. His face was very pale, and
he seemed to have received a very severe wound in
the neck.

"What is your name?" asked Louis.
"Maurice, sire."

"In what battle were you wounded?"
"At Blenheim, sire."

At that word the brow of Louis darkened.
"Under what marshal did you serve?"
"Sire, under Monseigneur de Tallard.”

Napoleon mounted his horse, and quitted St. Cloud, accompanied only by his grand marshal, his aide-de-camp, Rapp, and a page. After enjoying a brisk gallop through the Bois de Boulogne, he drew up at the gate of Maillot, and dismissed his attendants, with the exception of Rapp, who followed him into the avenue of Neuilly. Galloping by the spot where the triumphal arch was then beginning to rise from its foundations, they reached the grand avenue of the Champs Elysées, and proceeded towards the Hôtel des Invalides. There Napoleon stopped and gazed at the splendid edifice, glowing in the beams of the setting sun.

66

"Fine! very fine!" he repeated several times. "Come, father," said Jerome, "do as the colonel the empire. A volley of grape-shot knocked out my Truly Louis XIV. was a great king!" Then ad- orders you, or else the end of your politeness will eye, and carried off both my legs at the same time. dressing Rapp, he said, "I am going to visit my be, that you'll have a fine cold to-morrow. And" But," added Cyprien, striking his powerful chest, invalids this evening. Hold my horse-I shall not then this young Cyprien is not coming yet!" my heart was not touched, nor my stomach either, stay long." And throwing the bridle to his aide-de- "You must have entered this Hôtel while very and they have both, I hope, some good days' work camp, Napoleon passed beneath the principal gate-young?" said Napoleon as they walked along. in them yet." way. Seeing a man dressed in a military hat, "The battle of Fleurus," he and with two epaulettes badly concealed by his said, “was fought, I think, in 1794?” half-buttoned redingote, the sentry supposed him to Yes, colonel." be a superior officer, and allowed him to pass without a question.

"Yes, colonel; I was but eigteen when I fought
at Freidlingen, and the next year, at Blenheim, I
received a wound in my neck which disabled me,
and obtained for me the favor of entering here."
"It was not a favor," interrupted Napoleon-" it

years.

"I have lived here upwards of a hundred
I was married here, and I have seen all my old
comrades pass away. But, although there are only
young people now in the Hôtel, I am very happy
since my children came to join me."
"M. Jerome," said Napoleon, "how old are

Crossing his arms on his chest, the visitor, hav-was a right." ing reached the principal court, stopped and looked around him. Suddenly the conversation of two invalids coming out of the building, attracted his attention. In order to listen, he walked behind them, regulating his pace by theirs, for they walked very slowly. These two men seemed bowed down with years. The least feeble of them led his companion, and as they tottered on, he looked anxiously around.

"Jerome," said the eldest, in a husky voice, "do you see him coming?"

"No, father; but never mind. I'll read him a lecture which he won't forget in a hurry-careless boy that he is!"

"But, Jerome, we must make some allowance for him-we were once young ourselves. Besides, I dare say he thought my prayers would not be finished so soon this evening-the boy has a kind heart."

you?"

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Napoleon smiled.

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"That was already in Bonaparte's time," remarked Maurice.

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Grandfather," replied Cyprien, "please to say the emperor Napoleon the Great; that is his proper title."

"Ah, grandfather," interrupted Cyprien, impatiently, "we're tired of hearing about that monarch of the old régime, who used to go to war in a flowing wig and silk stockings! He's not to be mentioned in the same year with the emperor,

Going on ninety-one, colonel; I was born in who dresses and lives like one of ourselves. Is it not so, colonel?"

1715."

"Yes," said his father, "the very year that his late majesty Louis XIV. died. I remember it as well as if it were yesterday."

"What battles have you been in, my friend?" "At Fontenoy, colonel, at Lamfedl, at Rosbach, at Berghen, and at Fribourg. It was in the last battle I lost my arm. I came here in the year 1763, in the time of Louis XV." "That poor king," said Napoleon, as if speaking to himself, "who signed a shameful treaty that deprived France of fifteen hundred leagues of coast." "And for the last forty-three years," said Maurice, "Jerome has watched me like a good and The youngest looked up and touched his hat, for dutiful son. Pity that his should be so forgetful!" he saw the gleam of the epaulettes.

Napoleon stepped forward, and addressing the old men, said, "Apparently, my friends, you are waiting for some one?"

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'Yes, colonel," replied he, " my father Maurice and I have been waiting for my truant son. He knows well that his grandfather requires the support of his arms to reach the dormitory, as one of mine is Here he shook his empty sieeve. "You are a brave fellow!" said the emperor "and your son has done wrong. But how came your father," he continued, as they walked along,

"

"to remain so late out ?"

"Well," said Napoleon, "I will do my best to supply M. Cyprien's place. At your age it is not good to be under the night air.”

"Here he comes at last!" cried Jerome.

The emperor looked with some curiosity at this wild boy, for whose youth allowance was to be made, and saw to his astonishment an invalid of some sixty years old, with two wooden legs, but one eye, and a frightfully scarred face, advancing towards them as quickly as his infirmities would permit. Jerome began to reproach his truant son, but the latter interrupted him by holding up a flask, a piece of white bread, and a few lumps of sugar. "See," he said, "it was getting these things that delayed me. I knew grandfather would like a "His late majesty, Louis XIV.," said the old draught of warm wine and sugar after his long stay man, who had not before joined in the conversation. out; so I went to my old friend Colibert, and per"Louis XIV !" repeated Napoleon, in astonish-suaded him to give me his allowance of wine in ment. "Where can you have seen him?"

“Because, colonel, he always devotes the afternoon of the 1st of September to commemorate the anniversary of the death of the king under whom he formerly served.”

"What king was that?"

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Napoleon knitted his brows and answered coldly; "You are mistaken M. Cyprien; Louis XIV. was a great king! It was he who raised France to the first rank among the nations of Europe; it was he who first marshalled 400,000 soldiers on land, He added to and one hundred vessels on the sea. his dominions Rousillon, Franche-Comté, and Flanders; he seated one of his children on the throne of Spain; and it was he who founded the Hôtel des Invalides. Since Charlemagne, there has not been a king in France worthy of being compared to him!"

This eulogium on the monarch whom he almost idolized, caused the dim eyes of old Maurice to sparkle; he tried to straighten himself, and said in a broken voice :

"Bravo! bravo! Ah! colonel, you are worthy to have served his late majesty Louis XIV. Had you lived in his time he would have made you a

field-marshal !"

Somewhat abashed, Cyprien stammered out, "Excuse me, colonel; but you know I never knew this king of grandfather's. I only heard him spoken of by some of the oldest men here."

"And those who spoke disrespectfully of him," said Napoleon, "did wrong. Here, at all events, the memory of Louis XIV. ought to be venerated."

At that moment, lights appeared at the end of the court, a sound of voices was heard and many persons approached. Rapp had waited a long time on the spot where the emperor had left him; but when it became dark and his master did. not return, he grew uneasy, and giving the horses in charge to a soldier, he entered the Hôtel, and told 'Well, well," said Jerome, "that was thoughtful the governor, Marshal Serurrier, that the emperor of you, my boy, but meantime we should have had been for the last hour incognito within the walls. "If I live till Candlemas, colonel, I shall be one been badly off but for the kindness of this noble The news spread quickly among the officers; they hundred and twenty-one years old." colonel, who has made your grandfather lean on hastened to look for their beloved master, and found him." him on the terrace conversing with his three comCyprien saluted the emperor, whom, in the in-panions. At the cries of Here he is! long live creasing darkness, he did not recognise, and said: the emperor!" Cyprien, fixing his eye attentively on "Now then, sir, with your permission I will resume the supposed colonel, suddenly recognised him, and my post." clasping his hands, exclaimed: "Ah! sire, pardon me. Father, grandfather-this is the emperor him

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