n by the back hair if I was drowning, I
clutched at this discovery now, and, although trembling at my boldness,
asked, "Was your Grace ever afraid? I know the impertinence of the
question, but if you only guessed how it concerns me, you 'd forgive
it. Nature has made me many things, but not courageous. Nothing on earth
could induce me to risk life; the more I reason about it, the greater
grows my repugnance. Now, I would like to hear, is this what anatomists
call congenital? Am I likely to grow out of it? Shall I ever be a
dare-devil, intrepid, fire-eating sort of creature? How will the change
come over me? Shall I feel it coming? Will it come from within, or
through external agencies? And when it has arrived, what shall I become?
Am I destined to drive the Zouaves into the sea by a bayonet charge of
the North Cork Rifles, or shall I only be great in council, and take
weekly trips in the 'Fairy' to Cowes? I 'd like to know this, and begin
a course of preparation for my position, as I once knew of a militia
captain who hardened himself for a campaign by sleeping every night with
his head on the window-stool."

As I opened my eyes, I saw the stern features in front of me. I thought
the words, "I was never afraid, sir!" rang through my brain till they
filled every ventricle with their din.

"Not at Assaye?"

"No, sir."

"Not at the Douro?"

"No, sir."

"Not at Torres Vedras?"

"I tell you again, no, sir!"

Whether I uttered this last with any uncommon degree of vehemence or
not, I so frightened Vaterchen that he cut a somersault clean over the
chair, and stood grinning at me through the rails at the back of it I
motioned to him to be reseated, while, passing my hand across my brow,
I waved away the bright illusions that beset me, and, with a heavy sigh,
re-entered the dull world of reality.

"You are a clown," said I, meditatively. "What is a clown?"

He did not answer me in words, but, placing his hands on his knees,
stared at me steadfastly, and then, having fixed my attention, his face
performed a series of the most fearful contortions I ever beheld. With
one horrible spasm he made his mouth appear to stretch from ear to
ear; with another, his nose wagged from side to side; with a third, his
eyebrows went up and down alternately, giving the different sides of his
face two directly antagonistic expressions. I was shocked and horrified,
and called to him to desist.

"And yet," thought I, "there are natures