hen, to take her at her word, and set up school
together?" exclaimed I, a little provoked at his unscrupulous acceptance
of her proffered sacrifice. "You really intend to keep a lady's
boarding-school here at the Court?"

"I intend to take her at her word, most certainly," replied he, very
composedly; "but I should like to know, my good friend, what has put it
into her head, and into yours, that if Helen marries me she must needs
earn her own living? Suppose I should tell you," continued he, smiling,
"that my father, one of the richest of the Polish nobility, was a
favourite friend of the Emperor Alexander; that the Emperor Nicholas
continued to me the kindness which his brother had shown to my father,
and that I thought, as he had done, (gratitude and personal attachment
apart,) that I could better serve my country, and more effectually
ameliorate the condition of my tenants and vassals, by submitting to
the Russian government, than by a hopeless struggle for national
independence? Suppose that I were to confess, that chancing in the
course of a three-years' travel to walk through this pretty village
of yours, I saw Helen, and could not rest until I had seen more of
her;--supposing all this, would you pardon the deception, or rather the
allowing you to deceive yourselves? Oh, if you could but imagine how
delightful it is to a man, upon whom the humbling conviction has been
forced, that his society is courted and his alliance sought for the
accidents of rank and fortune, to feel that he is, for once in his life,
honestly liked, fervently loved for himself, such as he is, his own very
self,--if you could but fancy how proud he is of such friendship, how
happy in such love, you would pardon him, I am sure you would; you would
never have the heart to be angry. And now that the Imperial consent to
a foreign union--the gracious consent for which I so anxiously waited to
authorize my proposals--has at length arrived, do you think," added the
Count, with some seriousness, "that there is any chance of reconciling
this dear Helen to my august master? or will she still continue a
rebel?"

At this question, so gravely put, I laughed outright "Why really, my
dear Count, I cannot pretend to answer decidedly for the turn that
the affair might take; but my impression--to speak in that idiomatic
English, more racy than elegant, which you pique yourself upon
understanding--my full impression is, that Helen having for no reason
upon ea