devoted admirers of one who had
already won his epaulettes as a colonel in the French service. They
showed me every object of interest and curiosity in the neighbourhood,
arranged parties for riding and shooting, and, in fact, treated me in
all respects like a much-valaed guest--well repaid, as it seemed, by
those stories of war and battlefields which my own life and memory
supplied.

My improved health was already noticed by all, when Metternich sent me
a most polite message, stating, that if my services at Vienna could
be dispensed with for a while longer, it was hoped I would continue
to reside where I had derived such benefit, and breathe the cheering
breezes of Hungary for the remainder of the autumn.

It was full eight-and-twenty years later that I accidentally learned to
what curious circumstance I owed this invitation. It chanced that the
young archduchess, who was ill during the siege, was lingering in a slow
convalescence, and to amuse the tedious hours of her sick couch, Madame
Palakzi, the mother of my young friend, was accustomed to recount some
of the stories which I, in the course of the morning, happened to relate
to her son. So guardedly was all this contrived and carried on, that it
was not, as I have said, for nearly thirty years after that I knew of
it; and then, the secret was told me by the chief personage herself, the
Grand-Duchess of Parma.

Though nothing could better have chimed in with my plans than this
request, yet, in reality, the secret object of my mission appeared
just as remote as on the first day of my arrival. My acquaintances were
limited to some half-dozen gentlemen-in-waiting, and about an equal
number of young officers of the staff, with whom I dined, rode, hunted,
and shot--never seeing a single member of the Imperial family, nor,
stranger still, one lady of the household. In what Turkish seclusion
they lived! when they ventured out for air and exercise, and where, were
questions that never ceased to torture me. It was true that all my own
excursions had been on the left bank of the river, towards which side
the apartment I occupied looked; but I could scarcely suppose that the
right presented much attraction, since it appeared to be an impenetrable
forest of oak; moreover, the bridge which formerly connected it with the
island of Komorn had been cut off during the war. Of course, this was
a theme on which I could not dare to touch; and as the reserve of my
companions was neve