myself into the dense mass of people whom the noise
and confusion within had assembled around the house, when the double
door of the building opened, and a file of gens d'armerie came forth,
leading between them my friend Mr. O'Leary and some others of the
rioters--among whom I rejoiced to find my cousin did not figure. If I
were to judge from his disordered habiliments and scarred visage, Mr.
O'Leary's resistance to the constituted authorities must have been a
vigorous one, and the drollery of his appearance was certainly not
decreased by his having lost the entire brim of his hat--the covering of
his head bearing, under these distressing circumstances, a strong
resemblance to a saucepan.

As I could not at that moment contribute in any way to his rescue, I
determined on the following day to be present at his examination, and
render him all the assistance in my power. Meanwhile, I returned to
Meurice, thinking of every adventure of the evening much more than of my
own changed condition and altered fortunes.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

PARIS.

The first thing which met my eye, when waking in the morning, after the
affair at the salon, was the rouleau of billets de banque which I had won
at play; and it took several minutes before I could persuade myself that
the entire recollection of the evening had any more solid foundation than
a heated brain and fevered imagination. The sudden spring, from being a
subaltern in the __th, with a few hundreds per annum--"pour tout potage,"
to becoming the veritable proprietor of several thousands, with a
handsome house in Cumberland, was a consideration which I could scarcely
admit into my mind--so fearful was I, that the very first occurrence of
the day should dispel the illusion, and throw me back into the dull
reality which I was hoping to escape from.

There is no adage more true than the old Latin one--"that what we wish,
we readily believe;" so, I had little difficulty in convincing myself
that all was as I desired--although, certainly, my confused memory of the
past evening contributed little to that conviction. It was, then, amid a
very whirl of anticipated pleasures, and new schemes for enjoying life,
that I sat down to a breakfast, at which, that I might lose no time in
commencing my race, I had ordered the most recherche viands which even
French cookery can accomplish for the occasion.

My plans were soon decided upon. I resolved to remain only long enough
in Paris t