iends at Naples ever mentioned
to me the arrival of one in every way so distinguished. But here is the
Marquese; I must present you, Comte." So saying, she introduced me to a
tall, pompous-looking elderly gentleman, who, it is but fair to add, did
not evince half so much satisfaction at sight of me as his wife showed.
And now was I the lion of the evening. I, who had walked the Chiaia
every day for weeks back without notice or recognition, and who might,
had the idea occurred to me, have fallen down and died without one to
pity me,--I became all of a sudden a most "interesting personage"! My
African campaign was exalted into a perfect career of glory, and
even _my_ modesty was pushed hard to accept the praises most lavishly
bestowed upon acts of heroism of which I had not even heard.

The Duke of Vallabretta, the younger brother of the king, was certain
he had often heard of me from his "friend De St. Cloud." He was quite
positive that I was the officer of dragoons who, with one squadron of
horse, captured "a Smala" defended by twelve hundred Arabs, while fully
one half of the illustrious cruelties of the Oran war was generously
laid to my charge. A dash of atrocity adds immensely to the charm of
heroism in Italian estimation; and so I discovered that various acts of
roasting prisoners, sending a cargo of noses to Toulon, and such like,
were exceedingly popular with the ladies, who regarded me as a modern
"Bayard."

Not all these sensations of triumph, however, gave me one half the
pleasure that I felt in trampling upon the little French attache, whom
I persecuted with a proud disdain that nearly drove him mad. All my
ignorance of Neapolitan society, the obscurity in which I had lived
hitherto, I laid at his door. I deplored most feelingly to the prince
the inefficient mode in which we were represented at his court,
and promised to use my influence in effecting a change. I fear my
disposition is not so angelic as I usually conceive it, for I actually
taxed my ingenuity for little subjects of attack against the unlucky
diplomatist, and saw him at length retire from the salons crushed,
crest-fallen, and miserable.

Another consideration, perhaps, added venom to my malignity: I knew not
how short-lived might be my power, and determined to "make my running
while the course was free." The vicissitudes of fortune had often
reversed in one short day all the prospect I trusted to be the most
stable and certain; and, for the