forgotten; and Lady Hester surveyed with
pleasure preparations which at least implied an anxious attention to her
wishes.

"Only fancy the barbarism of the land we live in," said he; "I have sent
emissaries on every side to seek for some of those plaster images so
common in every city of Europe, but in vain. Instead of your ladyship
cutting off Joan of Arc's head, or sending your bullet through some
redoubtable enemy of England, you must waste your prowess and skill
upon an ignoble jar of porcelain, or a vase of Bohemian glass; unless,
indeed, my last messenger shall have proved more fortunate, and I
believe such is the case." As he spoke, his servant came up with a small
parcel carefully enveloped in paper.

"I have got this figure, sir," said he, "with the greatest difficulty,
and only indeed by pretending we wanted it as an ornamental statue. The
little fellow of the toy-shop parted with it in tears, as if it had been
his brother."

"It is very beautiful!" said Lady Hester, as she surveyed a small wooden
statue of Goethe's "Marguerite," in the attitude of plucking the petals
of a flower to decide upon her lover's fidelity.

"A mere toy!" said Haggerstone. "These things are carved by every child
in the Black Forest. Does your Ladyship think you could hit the feather
of her cap without hurting the head?"

"I couldn't think of such profanation," replied she; "there is really
something very pretty in the attitude and expression. Pray let us
reserve her for some less terrible destiny."

But the colonel persisted in assuring her that these were the commonest
knick-knacks that adorned every peasant's cabin, that every boor with a
rusty knife carved similar figures, and in the midst of his explanations
he placed the statue upon a little stone pillar about twenty paces off.

Lady Hester's objection had been little more than a caprice; indeed, had
she been convinced that the figure was a valuable work of art, she
would have felt rather flattered than otherwise at the costliness of the
entertainment provided for her. Like Cleopatra's pearl, it would have
had the charm of extravagance at least; but she never gave the colonel
credit for such gallantry, and the more readily believed all he said on
the subject.

Colonel Haggerstone proceeded to load the pistols with all that pomp and
circumstance so amusingly displayed by certain people on like occasions.
The bullets, encased in little globes of chamois, carefully powdere