o deliver, and
will give it to nobody else.'

"'Blockhead!' said I, 'what made you show her in there? To a certainty
she'll be meddling with the theodolites!'

"I rushed up-stairs, and found in my apartment one of the prettiest
little creatures I ever saw, a perfect fairy of about sixteen, in a
gipsy bonnet, who looked up and smiled as I entered.

"'Are you the Chevalier Mandeville?' asked she.

"Yes, my little dear, and pray who are you?'

"'I am Fritchen, sir,' she said with a courtesy.

"'You don't say so! Pray sit down, Fritchen.'

"'Thank you, sir.'

"'And pray now, Fritchen, what is it you want with me?'

"'My mistress desired me to say to you, sir--but it's a great
secret--that she is to be at the masquerade to-night in a blue domino,
and she begs you will place this White Rose in your hat, and she wishes
to have a few words with you.'

"'And who may your mistress be, my pretty one?'

"'Silence and Fidelity!'

"'Ha! is it possible? the Margravine!'

"'Hush! don't speak so loud--you don't know who may be listening. Black
Stanislaus has been watching me all day, and I hardly could contrive to
get out.'

"'Black Stanislaus had better beware of me!'

"'Oh, but you don't know him! He's Duke Albrecht's chief forester, and
the Duke is in _such_ a rage ever since he found my lady embroidering
your name upon a handkerchief.'

"'Did she, indeed?--my name?--O Amalia!'

"'Yes--and she says you're so like that big picture at
Schloss-Swiggenstein that she fell in love with long ago--and she is
sure you would come to love her if you only knew her--and she wishes,
for your sake, that she was a plain lady and not a Princess--and she
hates that Duke Albrecht so! But I wasn't to tell you a word of this, so
pray don't repeat it again.'

"'Silence and fidelity, my pretty Fritchen. Tell your royal Mistress
that I rest her humble slave and kinsman; that I will wear her rose, and
defend it too, if needful, against the attacks of the universe! Tell
her, too, that every moment seems an age until we meet again. I will not
overload your memory, little Fritchen. Pray, wear this trifle for my
sake, and'----

"'O fie, sir! If the waiter heard you!' and the little gipsy made her
escape.

"I had selected for my costume that night, a dress in the old English
fashion, taken from a portrait of the Admirable Crichton. In my hat I
reverently placed the rose which Amalia had sent me, stepped into my
fiacre, and drove to the