, but there was a certain dignity about it which redeemed it
from being entirely so. It was surmounted by a magnificent robe
trimmed with sables and decorated with a variety of unknown orders.
Upon his head he wore a richly wrought velvet cap, from beneath which
his long silvery hair escaped and reached quite down to his shoulders.

"Men seek me," said the astrologer, (for it was him) "but for two
purposes: either to have the past rehearsed to them, or to lift the
veil of time and unravel the mysteries of the future. For which of
these do you come?"

"Most learned doctor," said Charles, smiling at his companion, "we
come for both purposes; but more especially are we here to test that
wisdom, the reputation of which has reached the four corners of the
earth and filled the most profound with wonder."

"You sneer, my son," observed the doctor, gravely, "but nevertheless
your wishes shall be gratified, for even a skeptic may be made a
believer. Shall I expound the past to you?"

"First enlighten my incredulous companion as to his fate," replied
Charles, "and then I will judge how far you can speak of mine."

"Give me the hour of your birth," said the doctor, turning to De
Grammont, "and I will consult the stars in reference to your fortune."

De Grammont did as he was desired, and the astrologer left the
apartment. In a few moments he returned.

"You are not what you seem!" he said, seating himself, and addressing
De Grammont.

"Pray heaven you prove me no worse," replied De Grammont, laughing; "I
am a thriving merchant, though I would fain be a lord or a duke."

"The merchandise you deal in," said the astrologer, "is to be found in
the mart of fashion, where frailty, unrebuked, boldly lifts its head
by the side of innocence, making the latter undistinguishable Thou
hast naught to do with those wares that make a nation's commerce."

De Grammont laughed as he asked him of his parentage and past
fortune.

"You are nobly derived," replied the astrologer: "you have been the
companion of kings."

"Tut, tut!" exclaimed Charles, "thy art discloses naught. Thou wilt
surely make me an emperor if my friend is already the companion of
kings."

After a few more questions, which were as shrewdly answered by the
adept, it became the disguised monarch's turn to learn his fate.

"Yours has been a checkered life," the doctor said, when he had, as
before, consulted the stars. "The planets show that you have been
beset by as