! Did you ever see him at the head of his soldiers?"

"Oh yes! I have seen the Emperor review forty thousand of his chosen
troops in the Champs de Mars, and a famous sight it was. There stood the
great, proud man looking at his warriors as they manoeuvred before him.
Two-thirds of them were cavalry, and each horseman was mounted on a
beautiful blood charger of Cossack or English breed, and arrayed in a
superb uniform. The blaze, glitter and glory were too much for my eyes,
and I was frequently obliged to turn them away. The scene upon the whole
put me in mind of an immense field of tulips of various dyes, for the
colours of the dresses, of the banners and the plumes, were as gorgeous
and manifold as the hues of those queenly flowers."

"Bravo!" said twenty voices; "the gentleman speaks like an areithiwr.
Have you been in other countries besides Russia?"

"Oh yes! I have been in Turkey, the people of which are not Christians,
but frequently put Christians to shame by their good faith and honesty.
I have been in the land of the Maugrabins, or Moors--a people who live on
a savoury dish called couscousoo, and have the gloomiest faces and the
most ferocious hearts under heaven. I have been in Italy, whose people,
though the most clever in the world, are the most unhappy, owing to the
tyranny of a being called the Pope, who, when I saw him, appeared to be
under the influence of strong drink. I have been in Portugal, the people
of which supply the whole world with wine, and drink only water
themselves. I have been in Spain, a very fine country, the people of
which are never so happy as when paying other folks' reckonings. I have
been--but the wind is blowing wildly without, and the rain pelting
against the windows; this is a capital night for a ghost story; shall I
tell you a ghost story which I learnt in Spain?"

"Yes, sir, pray do; we all love ghost stories. Do tell us the ghost
story of Spain."

Thereupon I told the company Lope de Vega's ghost story, which is
decidedly the best ghost story in the world.

Long and loud was the applause which followed the conclusion of the grand
ghost story of the world, in the midst of which I got up, bade the
company good-night, and made my exit. Shortly afterwards I desired to be
shown to my sleeping apartment. It was a very small room upstairs, in
the back part of the house; and I make no doubt was the chamber of the
two poor girls, the landlady's daughters, as I saw va