up his servants, who bustled about, setting
the table and making other preparations for supper, to the undisguised
delight of Blazius, who said triumphantly to the tyrant, "You see now,
Herode, and must acknowledge, that my predictions, inspired by the
little glimmer of light we saw from afar, are completely verified--they
have all come literally true. Fragrant puffs are issuing even now from
the mammoth pot-au-feu there over the fire, and we shall presently wash
down its savoury contents with draughts of generous wine, which I see
already awaiting us on the table yonder. It is warm and bright and
cosy in this room, and we appreciate and enjoy it all doubly, after the
darkness and the cold and the danger from which we have escaped into the
grateful shelter of this hospitable roof; and to crown the whole, our
host is the grand, illustrious, incomparable Bellombre--flower and cream
of all comedians, past, present and future, and best of good fellows."

"Our happiness would be complete if only poor Matamore were here," said
Isabelle with a sigh.

"Pray what has happened to him?" asked Bellombre, who knew him by
reputation.

The tyrant told him the tragic story of the snow-storm, and its fatal
consequences. "But for this thrice-blessed meeting with my old and
faithful friend here," Blazius added, "the same fate would probably have
overtaken us ere morning--we should all have been found, frozen stiff
and stark, by the next party of travellers on the post road."

"That would have been a pity indeed," Bellombre rejoined, and glancing
admiringly at Isabelle and Serafina, added gallantly, "but surely these
young goddesses would have melted the snow, and thawed the ice, with the
fire I see shining in their sparkling eyes."

"You attribute too much power to our eyes," Scrafina made answer; "they
could not even have made any impression upon a heart, in the thick,
impenetrable darkness that enveloped us; the tears that the icy cold
forced from them would have extinguished the flames of the most ardent
love."

While they sat at supper, Blazius told their host of the sad condition
of their affairs, at which he seemed no way surprised.

"There are always plenty of ups and downs in a theatrical career," he
said--"the wheel of Fortune turns very fast in that profession; but if
misfortunes come suddenly, so also does prosperity follow quickly in
their train. Don't be discouraged!--things are brightening with you now.
Tomorrow morn