quite willing to accept your statement; for I
never met an American before.'

"As we neared the foothills the air grew colder. She instinctively drew
her cloak the closer, settling herself in one corner and closing her eyes
wearily. I offered my rug, insisting that she was not properly clad for a
journey over the mountains at night. She refused gently but firmly, and
closed her eyes again, resting her head against the dividing cushion. For
a moment I watched her; then arose from my seat, and, pulling down my
bundle of shawls, begged that I might spread my heaviest rug over her lap.
An angry color mounted to her cheeks. She turned upon me, and was about to
refuse indignantly, when I interrupted:--

"'Please allow me; don't you know you cannot sleep if you are cold? Let
me put this wrap about you. I have two.'

"With the unrolling, the leather tablet of the shawl-strap, bearing my
name, fell in her lap.

"'Your name is Bosk,' she said, with a quick start, 'and you an American?'

"'Yes; why not?'

"'My maiden name is Boski,' she replied, looking at me in astonishment,
'and I am a Pole.'

"Here were two mysteries solved. She was married, and neither Italian nor
Slav.

"'And your ancestry?' she continued with increased animation. 'Are you of
Polish blood? You know our name is a great name in Poland. Your
grandfather, of course, was a Pole.' Then, with deep interest, 'What are
your armorial bearings?'

"I answered that I had never heard that my grandfather was a Pole. It was
quite possible, though, that we might be of Polish descent, for my father
had once told me of an ancestor, an old colonel, who fell at Austerlitz.
As to the armorial bearings, we Americans never cared for such things. The
only thing I could remember was a certain seal which my father used to
wear, and with which he sealed his letters. The tradition in the family
was that it belonged to this old colonel. My sister used it sometimes. I
had a letter from her in my pocket.

"She examined the indented wax on the envelope, opened her cloak quickly,
and took from the bag at her side a seal mounted in jewels, bearing a
crest and coat of arms.

"'See how slight the difference. The quarterings are almost the same, and
the crest and motto identical. This side is mine, the other is my
husband's. How very, very strange! And yet you are an American?'

"'And your husband's crest?' I asked. 'Is he also a Pole?'

"'Yes; I married a Pole,' with a slight tr