ny newspapers or journals with you?"

"None, sir; I came away at a moment's warning."

"You are an Englishman. How came it that you have been a resident in
France?"

For the first time his face assumed an expression of severity as he said
this, and I could not but feel that the inquiry was one that touched my
personal honor. I replied, therefore, promptly that I had come abroad
from causes of a family nature, and that they were matters which could
not interest a stranger.

"They do interest me, sir," was his reply, "and I have a right to know
them."

If my first impulse was to resent what I conceived to be a tyranny,
my second was to clear myself from any possibility of an imputation.
I believe it was the wiser of the two; at all events, I yielded to
it, and, apologizing for the intrusion upon time valuable as his, I
narrated, in a few minutes, the leading features of my history.

"A singular story," said he, as I concluded: "the son of an Irish
Opposition leader reduced to this! What proofs have you of the
correctness of your account? Have you acquaintances? Letters?"

"Some letters, but not one acquaintance."

"Let me see some of these. Come here to-morrow, fetch your papers with
you, and be here at eleven o'clock."

"But excuse me, sir," said I, "if I ask wherefore I should do this? I
came here at considerable personal hazard to render you a service. I
have been fortunate enough to succeed. I have also made known to you
certain circumstances of a purely private nature, and which only can
concern myself. You either believe them or you do not."

"This is precisely the difficulty that I have not solved, young
gentleman," said he, courteously; "you may be speaking in all the
strongest conviction of truthfulness, and yet be incorrect. I desire to
be satisfied on this head, and I am equally ready to assure you that the
inquiry is not prompted by any motive of mere curiosity."

I remained silent for a minute or two; I tried to weigh the different
reasons for and against either course in my mind, but I was too much
agitated for the process. He seemed to guess what was passing within me,
and said,--

"Don't you perceive, sir, that I am your debtor for a service, and that
before I attempt to acquit the obligation I ought to know the rank and
station of my creditor? You would not accept of a pecuniary reward?"

"Certainly not, and as little any other."

"But I might possibly present my thanks in a form to be ac