from him in the art which I had neglected so foolishly
in early life.

It may be said, without vanity, that I was an apt pupil, and in the
course of half a dozen lessons I had arrived at very considerable
agility in the waltzing line, and could twirl round the room with him
at such a pace as made the old gentleman pant again, and hardly left him
breath enough to puff out a compliment to his pupil. I may say, that in
a single week I became an expert waltzer; but as I wished, when I came
out publicly in that character, to be quite sure of myself, and as I had
hitherto practised not with a lady, but with a very fat old man, it was
agreed that he should bring a lady of his acquaintance to perfect me,
and accordingly, at my eighth lesson, Madame Springbock herself came to
the dancing-room, and the old zephyr performed on the violin.

If any man ventures the least sneer with regard to this lady, or dares
to insinuate anything disrespectful to her or myself, I say at once that
he is an impudent calumniator. Madame Springbock is old enough to be my
grandmother, and as ugly a woman as I ever saw; but, though old, she was
passionnee pour la danse, and not having (on account, doubtless, of her
age and unprepossessing appearance) many opportunities of indulging in
her favorite pastime, made up for lost time by immense activity
whenever she could get a partner. In vain, at the end of the hour, would
Springbock exclaim, "Amalia, my soul's blessing, the time is up!" "Play
on, dear Alphonso!" would the old lady exclaim, whisking me round: and
though I had not the least pleasure in such a homely partner, yet for
the sake of perfecting myself I waltzed and waltzed with her, until we
were both half dead with fatigue.

At the end of three weeks I could waltz as well as any man in Germany.

At the end of four weeks there was a grand ball at court in honor of H.
H. the Prince of Dummerland and his Princess, and THEN I determined
I would come out in public. I dressed myself with unusual care and
splendor. My hair was curled and my moustache dyed to a nicety; and
of the four hundred gentlemen present, if the girls of Kalbsbraten DID
select one who wore an English hussar uniform, why should I disguise the
fact? In spite of my silence, the news had somehow got abroad, as news
will in such small towns,--Herr von Fitz-Boodle was coming out in a
waltz that evening. His Highness the Duke even made an allusion to the
circumstance. When on this ev