which before he had refused, but drinking with apparent
enthusiasm to the health of the English king, on the occasion of a
dinner given in celebration of that monarch's birthday at the British
consulate.

The mask-ball was a very great affair indeed when it came off--which it
did at the country residence of the French consul. The mansion, which
was Mauresque in style, was splendidly decorated with flags of various
nations, and the skiffa, with its sparkling fountain and graceful
palmettas, was a perfect blaze of variegated lamps. These hung amid the
foliage of the creepers that twined round the curved marble pillars, and
their red garish light contrasted powerfully with the clear purity of
the star-lit sky, which formed the natural roof of the skiffa.

The grounds around the consulate were also decorated and lighted up with
the taste for which the French are peculiarly noted.

Of course all the consuls were invited, with their respective families,
and were present, with the exception of Mrs Langley, who happened to be
indisposed, and Agnes, who stayed at home to nurse her mother. As an
affair of the kind involved a good deal of laxity of what may be styled
domestic discipline, many of the superior servants were also permitted
to stroll about the grounds in fancy costumes. The consuls themselves
appeared in their proper uniforms, but some of the members of their
households displayed themselves in forms and aspects which we find it
difficult to describe, while others of the guests habited themselves in
the skins, and gave themselves the airs, of wild beasts of the forest.

There were wild-boars from the Jurjura Hills, overgrown monkeys from the
gorge of "la Chiffa," lions from Mount Atlas, and panthers from the
Zahara, besides other nondescript creatures from nowhere. But these
were a mere sprinkling in the gay scene of richly dressed ladies and
gentlemen, among whom, strange to say, were not a few Christian slaves!
These last were Italian and Portuguese officers who had been captured by
the Algerines at various times. Had they been taken by civilised
peoples, they would have been deemed prisoners of war, and treated as
such, but the pirates styled them slaves, and would certainly have
treated them as beasts of burden--as they treated hundreds of their
countrymen--but for the fact that they had friends at home who paid an
annual sum to purchase for them exemption from such drudgery. Having
nothing to do, and no