well bruised and mixed
with linseed, for he hasn't a tooth left."

"I suppose his master is some very rich man, who can afford himself a
caprice like this."

"For the matter of money, he has enough of it. He is the Prince Ernest
Maximilian of Wurtemberg, and, except the Emperor, has the best stable
in all Paris. But I don't think that _he_ cares much for the old horse;
it's the _Princess_ likes him, and she constantly drives out to the wood
here, and when we come to a quiet spot, where there are no strangers,
she makes me take off all the body-clothes and the hood, and she 'll
get out of the carriage and pat him. And he knows her, that he does! and
lifts up that old leg of his when she comes towards him, and tries to
whinny too. But here she comes now, and it won't do if I 'm seen talking
to you; so just drop behind, sir, and never notice me."

I crossed the road, and had but reached the opposite pathway, when a
carriage stopped, and the old horse drew up beside it. After a word
or two, the groom took off the hood, and there was Blondel! But my
amazement was lost in the greater shock that the Princess, whose
jewelled hand held out the sugar to him, was no other than Catinka!

I cannot say with what motive I was impelled,--perhaps the action was
too quick for either,--but I drew nigh to the carriage, and, raising my
hat respectfully, asked if her highness would deign to remember an old
acquaintance.

"I am unfortunate enough, sir, not to be able to recall you," said she,
in the most perfect Parisian French.

"My name you may have forgotten, madam, but scarcely so either our first
meeting at Schaffhausen, or our last at Bregenz."

"These are all riddles to me, sir; and I am sure you are too well bred
to persist in an error after you have recognized it to be such." With a
cold smile and a haughty bow, she motioned the coachman to drive on, and
I saw her no more.

Stung to the very quick, but yet not without a misgiving that I might be
possibly mistaken, I hurried to the police department, where the list of
strangers was preserved. By sending in my card I was admitted to see
one of the chiefs of the department, who politely informed me that the
princess was totally unknown as to family, and not included in the Gotha
Almanack.

"May I ask," said he, as I prepared to retire, "if this letter here--it
has been with us for more than a year--is for your address? It came with
an enclosure covering any possible expense