o composed this paper,--this narrative of yours?"

"I did, madam."

"The whole of it?"

"Yes, madam, the whole of it."

"Where have you been educated?"

"At Reichenau, madam."

"Where is that?"

"In Switzerland, on the frontiers of the Vorarlberg."

"And your parents are both dead, and you have actually none in the shape
of relatives?"

"Not one, madam."

She whispered something here to the minister, who quickly said,--

"Certainly, if you wish it."

"Tell me, sir," said she, addressing me again, "who is this same Count
de Gabriac, of whom mention is made here. Is he the person called
Couvre-Tete in the circles of the Jacobins?"

"I never have heard him so called, madam."

"You know him at least to be of that party?"

"No, madam. The very little I do know of him personally would induce me
to suppose the opposite."

She shook her head, and gave a faint supercilious smile, as though in
total disbelief of my words.

"If you have read my memoir, madam," said I, hastily, "you will perceive
how few have been the occasions of my meeting with the Count, and that,
whatever his politics, I may be excused for not knowing them."

"You say that you went along with him to Paris?"

"Yes, madam, and never saw him afterwards."

"You have heard from him, however, and are, in fact, in correspondence
with him?"

"No, madam, nothing of the kind."

As I said this, she threw the paper indignantly on the table, and walked
away to the window. The minister followed her, and said something in a
low whisper, to which she replied aloud,--

"Well, it's not my opinion. Time will tell which of us was more right."

"Tell me something of the condition of parties in France," said he,
drawing his chair in front of mine. "Are the divisions as wide as
heretofore?"

I will not go over the conversation that ensued, since I was myself the
principal speaker. Enough if I say that I told him whatever I knew or
had heard of the various subdivisions of party: of the decline of the
terrorists, and the advent to power of men who, with equal determination
and firmness, yet were resolute to uphold the laws and provide for the
security of life and property. In the course of this I had to speak of
the financial condition of the country; and in the few words that fell
from me, came the glimpses of some of that teaching I had obtained from
the Herr Robert.

"You appear to have devoted attention to these topics," said he, with
a smile. "T