of an adventure of the same
kind."

"You come forward after two great performers," said Madame de la
Baudraye, with coquettish flattery, as she glanced at the two Parisians.
"But never mind--proceed."

"Some little time after his entry into Madrid," said the
Receiver-General, "the Grand Duke of Berg invited the magnates of the
capital to an entertainment given to the newly conquered city by the
French army. In spite of the splendor of the affair, the Spaniards were
not very cheerful; their ladies hardly danced at all, and most of the
company sat down to cards. The gardens of the Duke's palace were so
brilliantly illuminated, that the ladies could walk about in as perfect
safety as in broad daylight. The fete was of imperial magnificence.
Nothing was grudged to give the Spaniards a high idea of the Emperor, if
they were to measure him by the standard of his officers.

"In an arbor near the house, between one and two in the morning, a party
of French officers were discussing the chances of war, and the not too
hopeful outlook prognosticated by the conduct of the Spaniards present
at that grand ball.

"'I can only tell you,' said the surgeon-major of the company of which I
was paymaster, 'I applied formally to Prince Murat only yesterday to
be recalled. Without being afraid exactly of leaving my bones in the
Peninsula, I would rather dress the wounds made by our worthy neighbors
the Germans. Their weapons do not run quite so deep into the body as
these Castilian daggers. Besides, a certain dread of Spain is, with
me, a sort of superstition. From my earliest youth I have read Spanish
books, and a heap of gloomy romances and tales of adventures in this
country have given me a serious prejudice against its manners and
customs.

"'Well, now, since my arrival in Madrid, I have already been, not
indeed the hero, but the accomplice of a dangerous intrigue, as dark and
mysterious as any romance by Lady (Mrs.) Radcliffe. I am apt to attend
to my presentiments, and I am off to-morrow. Murat will not refuse me
leave, for, thanks to our varied services, we always have influential
friends.'

"'Since you mean to cut your stick, tell us what's up,' said an old
Republican colonel, who cared not a rap for Imperial gentility and
choice language.

"The surgeon-major looked about him cautiously, as if to make sure
who were his audience, and being satisfied that no Spaniard was within
hearing, he said:

"'We are none but Frenchmen-