lk stockings, with his broad buckles of brilliants in his
shoes. The ribbon of St. Louis, which he wore unostentatiously on his
waistcoat, was his only decoration.

'This is the Vicomte de Berlemont, _ancien colonel-en-chef_,' said she,
with an accent of pride at the mention of so distinguished a frequenter
of the cafe; 'he has not missed an evening here for years past.'

A few more words of inquiry elicited from her the information that the
vicomte had served in all the wars of the Empire up to the time of the
abdication; that on the restoration of the Bourbons he had received
his rank in the service from them, and, faithful to their fortunes, had
followed Louis XVIII. in exile to Ghent.

'He has seen a deal of the world, then, madame, it would appear?'

'That he has, and loves to speak about it too; time was when they
reckoned the vicomte among the pleasantest persons in Lyons; but they
say he has grown old now, and contracted a habit of repeating his
stories. I can't tell how that may be, but I think him always amiable.'
A delightful word that same 'amiable' is! and so thinking, I wished
madame good-night, and departed.

The next evening I lay in wait for the old colonel, and was flattered
to see that he was taking equal pains to discover me. We retired to a
little table, ordered our coffee, and chatted away till midnight.
Such was the commencement, such the course, of one of the pleasantest
intimacies I ever formed.

The vicomte was unquestionably the most agreeable specimen of his nation
I had ever met--easy and unaffected in his manner, having seen much, and
observed shrewdly; not much skilled in book-learning, but deeply read
in mankind. His views of politics were of that unexaggerated character
which are so often found correct; while of his foresight I can give no
higher token than that he then predicted to me the events of the year
1830, only erring as to the time, which he deemed might not be so far
distant. The Empire, however, and Napoleon were his favourite topics.
Bourbonist as he was, the splendour of France in 1810 and 1811, the
greatness of the mighty man whose genius then ruled its destinies, had
captivated his imagination, and he would talk for hours over the events
of Parisian life at that period, and the more brilliant incidents of the
campaigns.

It was in one of our conversations, prolonged beyond the usual time, in
discussing the characters of those immediately about the person of the
Emp