rly that his skill was more
admired than condemned. Carrying off the daughter did not seem to offend
the old gentleman so much; but his grief was so great over the loss of
his ounces that he employed means of recovering them, and with them the
thief, whom he had sent to prison to repent of the sin. Louis was rather
fond of a change, and accepted prison life as a relief from the labor
society required of him, and as a necessary benefit to his health rather
than a punishment. He once relieved me of some diamonds, and in such a
manner as to make me remember him for his skill."

"I tells you, mine friend," interrupted Gusher, "zat grand rascal 'onar
me in ze same way. He gets ze diamond. And I ne-var gets zat diamond
back. He make me so much trouble. I am mistake for him so many times."
Gusher now proposed that they should fill their glasses again, which
they did, the rest of the company joining and drinking to the health of
the family.

"That he is taken for you," resumed Romer, "might be considered a
compliment, as far as looks go. If I remember right the fellow was
exceedingly handsome."

This seemed to excite Gusher's vanity. Laying his hand patronizingly on
Romer's arm, he looked up in his face with a smile of injured innocence.
"I care nosin for myself; it is wiz mine friend he make me so much
trouble."

"You're to be pitied, sir, very much to be pitied. Of course you are not
Pinto, and yet the dashing, handsome fellow will insist in trafficking
on your reputation. How very aggravating to a gentleman of your
position. It requires a genius to do that well. That's what I admired
Pinto for. The fellow had such a number of family histories at his
tongue's end, and could apply any one of them so cleverly to his own
case. In short, he knew exactly how to suit his customer. But you will
remember, Mr. Gusher, the most amusing thing of all was the number of
fathers he had. To-day he had a Spanish father, who had been through all
the wars of Spain; to-morrow his father was a Frenchman who had smelled
powder in all the battles fought by Napoleon. They were generals, too.
There was one bad feature about Louis's fathers. They were all
unfortunate gentlemen, who managed to fight on the wrong side, and got
their estates confiscated and their families left destitute."

Romer paused for a moment, but kept his eyes fixed on Gusher. Still
there was no change in his countenance. The young gentlemen who had been
so merry but a few m