wretchedly cut up, when that devil of a valet, who
must be an accomplice, scraped the new paint off. The picture must have
been got up in New York by Dalton and the Denslows."

"Perhaps the Duke, too, was got up in New York, on the same principle,"
suggested Adonais. "Such things are possible. Society is intrinsically
rotten, you know, and Dalton"----

"Is a fellow of considerable talent," sneered Lethal,--"but has enemies,
who may have planned a duke."

Adonais coughed in his cravat, and hinted,--"How would it do to call him
'Barnum Dalton'?"

Adonais appeared shocked at himself, and swallowed a minim of wine to
cleanse his vocal apparatus from the stain of so coarse an illustration.

"Do you hear those creatures?" whispered Dalton. "They are arranging
scandalous paragraphs for the 'Illustration.'"

A moment after, he was gone. I spoke to Lethal and Adonais.

"Gentlemen, you are in error about the picture and the Duke; they are as
they now appear;--the one, an excellent copy, purchased as an original,--
no uncommon mistake; the other, a genuine highness. How does he strike
you?"

Lethal cast his eyes around to see who listened.

"The person," said he, "who is announced here to-night as an English duke
seemed to me, of all men I could select, least like one."

"Pray, what is your ideal of an English duke, Mr. Lethal?" asked Adonais,
with the air of a connoisseur, sure of himself, but hating to offend.

"A plain, solid person, well dressed, but simple; mutton-chop whiskers;
and the manners of a--a----"

"Bear!" said a soft female voice.

"Precisely,--the manners of a bear; a kind of gentlemanly bear, perhaps,--
but still, ursine and heavy; while this person, who seems to have walked
out of ----- or a novel, affects me, by his ways and appearance, like a--
a--h'm"----

"Gambler!" said the same female voice, in a conclusive tone.

There was a general soft laugh. Everybody was pleased. All admired, hated,
and envied the Duke. It was settled beyond a doubt that he was an
impostor,--and that the Denslows were either grossly taken in, or were
"selling" their friends. In either case, it was shocking and delightful.

"The fun of the thing," continued Lethal, raising his voice a little, "is,
that the painter who got up the old picture must have been as much an
admirer of the Hon. Mrs. Denslow as--his--Highness; for, in touching in
the queen, he has unconsciously made it a portrait."

The blow was final. I move