ploy the simile."

"Ach, bot it is true! I am inside my heart so constant as it is
possible! But I now represent Tollyvoddle, and for his sake most try to
do my best."

Again Count Bunker glanced at his knee.

"And that is your best, then?"

"Listen, Bonker, and try to onderstand--not jost to make jokes. It
appears to me zat Miss Gallosh vill make a good vife to Tollyvoddle. She
is so fair, so amiable, and so rich. Could he do better? Should I not
lay ze foundations of a happy marriage mit her? Soppose ve do get her
instead of Miss Maddison, eh?"

His artful eloquence seemed to impress his friend, for he smiled
thoughtfully and did not reply at once. More persuasively than ever the
Baron continued--

"I do believe mit patience and mit--er--mit kindness, Bonker, I might
persuade Miss Gallosh to listen to ze proposal of Tollyvoddle. And vould
it not be better far to get him a lady of his own people, and not a
stranger from America? Ve vill not like Miss Maddison, I feel sure. Vy
troble mit her--eh, Bonker?"

"But don't you think, Baron, that we ought to give Tulliwuddle his
choice? He may prefer an American heiress to a Scottish."

"Not if he sees Eva Gallosh!"

Again the Count gently raised his eyebrows in a way that the Baron could
not help considering unsuitable to the occasion.

"On the other hand, Baron, Miss Maddison will probably have five or ten
times as much money as Miss Gallosh. In arranging a marriage for another
man, one must attend to such trifles as a few million dollars more or
less."

For the moment the Baron was silenced, but evidently not convinced.

"Supposing I were to call upon the Maddisons as your envoy?" suggested
Bunker, who, to tell the truth, had already begun to tire of a life of
luxurious inaction.

"Pairhaps in a few days we might gonsider it."

"We have been here for a week already."

"Ven vould you call?"

"To-morrow, for instance."

The Baron frowned; but argument was difficult.

"You only jost vill go to see?"

"And report to you."

"And suppose she is ogly--or not so nice--or so on----zen vill I not see
her, eh?"

"But suppose she is tolerable?"

"Zen vill ve give him a choice, and I vill continue to be polite to Miss
Gallosh. Ah, Bonker, she is so nice! He vill not like Miss Maddison so
vell! Himmel, I do admire her!"

The Baron's eyes shone with reminiscent affection.

"To how many poles is the magnet usually constant?" inquired the Count
with a serio