spurs into their horses'
flanks they made the circuit of the Place at full gallop, while their
'Hurra!' burst forth with all the wild vehemence of their savage nature.

'We shall get into some precious scrape with all this,' said O'Grady,
as, overcome with laughing, he fell back into the _caleche_.

Such was my own opinion; so telling the postillion to turn short into
the next street we hurried away unperceived, and drove with all the
speed we could muster for the Rue St. Honore. The Hotel de la Paix
fortunately had room for us; and ordering our breakfasts we adjourned to
dress, each resolving to make the most of his few hours at Paris.

I had just reached the breakfast-room, and was conning over the morning
papers, when O'Grady entered in full uniform, his face radiant with
pleasure, and the same easy, jaunty swagger in his walk as on the first
day I met him.

'When do you expect to have your audience, Phil?' said I.

'I have had it, my boy. It's all over, finished, completed. Never was
anything so successful I talked over the old Adjutant in such a strain,
that, instead of dreaming about a court-martial on us, the worthy man is
seriously bent on our obtaining compensation for the loss of the drag.
He looked somewhat serious as I entered; but when once I made him laugh,
the game was my own. I wish you had seen him wiping his dear old eyes
as I described the covey of gendarmes taking the air. However, the main
point is, the regiment is to be moved up to Paris, the commissaire is
to receive a reprimand, our claim for some ten thousand francs is to be
considered, and I am to dine with the Adjutant to-day and tell the story
after dinner.'

'Do you know, Phil, I have a theory that an Irishman never begins
to prosper but just at the moment that any one else would surely be
ruined.'

'Don't make a theory of it, Jack, for it may turn out unlucky. But the
practice is pretty much what you represent it. Fortune never treats
people so well as when they don't care a fig about her. She's exactly
like a lady patroness--confoundedly impertinent if you'll bear it, but
all smiles if you won't. Have you ever met Tom Burke--"Burke of Ours,"
as they call him, I believe, in half the regiments in the service?'

'No, never.'

'Well, the loss is yours. Tom's a fine fellow in his way; and if you
could get him to tell you his story--or rather one of his stories, for
his life is a succession of them--perhaps you would find that this sa