XI.

THE PLAN IS ARRANGED.

ON entering his own room, Musgrave found Emile there arranging his things.

Scarcely noticing the valet, he flung himself into an easy-chair near the fire. Emile waited for a minute or two before addressing him.

"Monsieur le Capitaine is really going away to-day?" he inquired.

up.

"Going away for good," rejoined Musgrave, without looking

"I do not quite understand," observed the valet. "Monsieur will not return-is that it?"

"That's it. Monsieur can't return. His plan has been thwarted by Mrs. Flaxyard. She has thought it necessary to interfere." "Diable! that's unlucky. Léontine told me that the old lady's suspicions were awakened. I hope she has not made mis

chief.".

"She has succeeded in frightening her daughter; that's bad enough."

"Oh! if it's no more than that, monsieur need not be uneasy. The alarm will speedily pass. Léontine will easily reassure her mistress. After all, there is no real danger from Madame Flaxyard. But there is danger-great danger-from another person." "You don't mean Mrs. Shelmerdine? She likes me."

"Monsieur thinks so. Perhaps she does. But if she likes monsieur, she hates her daughter-in-law, and would not scruple to destroy her. Since monsieur has done me the honour to employ me, I have studied the affair; looked at it carefully on all sides. The real danger is from Madame Shelmerdine. I have watched her; and Léontine, so far as she could, has watched her. In fact, to tell you the plain truth, monsieur, she would willingly have employed Léontine as a spy upon her mistress; but, as I have already observed to you, the girl is honest."

"This is indeed a danger which I did not foresee," said Musgrave. "But a number of little circumstances convince me that you are right, Emile. The old lady has completely taken me in. I thought myself quite safe in that quarter."

"You did well to employ me, monsieur. I can serve you effectually. Madame Shelmerdine meditates a vilain tour towards her daughterin-law. Sooner or later, if you had remained here, she would have made some discovery, and then

"There would have been the devil to pay!" cried Musgrave, with a forced laugh. "I am glad you have told me of this, Emile. It reconciles me to my departure.

"Will monsieur permit me to inquire his present plans? Surely he does not mean to abandon the game?"

"There is no help for it, Emile. All the chances are against me. It would be sheer madness now to think of returning to this house."

"Monsieur need not return. I do not for a moment advise it. But he has friends who can serve him in his absence."

"The game's up, I tell you, Emile. I made a desperate attempt this morning, but failed. I proposed flight to madame, but she indignantly rejected the proposition.'

"You were too precipitate, monsieur. You need not despair. Madame is a great prize-such a prize as does not often turn up in the lottery of life, and pains must be taken to win her. If I am rightly informed and it is the common talk among the servants here, who ought to know the truth-she has a large fortune settled upon herself?"

"She has thirty thousand pounds which cannot be taken from her, do what she will. Madame is very pretty, and very captivating; but I will own to you, Emile, that her money is the grand attraction with me. An elopement with her has been always my idea, but as I have told you, she derides the proposition."

"If I enable you to carry her off, what will you give?”

"Whatever you choose to ask," cried Musgrave, eagerly. "Thirty per cent. on the thirty thousand. I will make your fortune. But though you are a deuced clever fellow, Emile, I have no great faith in your achieving an enterprise like this."

"Monsieur has yet to learn what I can do. But I shall work through the agency of Léontine, who must likewise be considered. In fact, the success of the scheme will mainly depend upon her."

"She shall have a handsome dot. You shall have enough between you to set up business together in the Boulevart des Capucines. You should have something on account, but I am not in funds just now."

"Monsieur's word will suffice. We do not desire to be paid beforehand. Monsieur can send his full instructions to me, and they shall be attended to. All his letters shall be safely delivered to madame, and her answers forwarded as he may direct."

"You quite raise my spirits, Emile. I fancied the game was but now I begin to think I shall still win." up Monsieur has everything in his favour. Madame is certainly

in love that is the main point. Léontine will take care to sharpen her regrets at his absence, and to keep his image constantly before her. Next will come his letters-ardent, of course.

VOL. LXIII.

D

More persuasion from Léontine. At last, at the right moment, the plan will be proposed; the decision made; and the elopement will take place."

Musgrave laughed. After some further discussion of their infamous project, he directed the valet to pack up his portmanteau, and prepared to go down-stairs.

"Mind one thing, Emile," he said. "Before I leave I shall say something to your master that will make him jealous-furiously jealous of Sir Norman."

"I will attend to the hint, monsieur."

Luncheon being over, Musgrave proceeded to the drawingroom, where he found the whole party. Mrs. Shelmerdine, who had only just heard of his intended departure, expressed her great regret, and tried hard to induce him to stay over the ball. Failing in this, she expressed a hope that he would soon pay them another visit, and the invitation was warmly seconded by her son. "Mrs. Bootle will be quite disconsolate at your departure," remarked the old lady. "Out of consideration for her feelings you ought to come back soon."

"You will make Captain Musgrave a great deal too vain, mamma," said the younger lady. "I shall be sorry to lose him, of course, but I don't think I shall quite break my heart if he doesn't come back."

Captain Musgrave felt greatly flattered by the observations of both ladies, but feared it would be utterly impossible that he could

return.

Mrs. Shelmerdine's unmistakable disappointment and ill-concealed annoyance convinced him of the correctness of the information he had just received from Emile.

The two old gentlemen did not make their appearance till dinner-time, and whatever they might assert, we don't think that either was particularly sorry to lose the captain. The only person among the men who really regretted Musgrave's departure, was the one who had most reason to rejoice at it.

What Mrs. Bootle felt on the occasion we shall not inquire, but Mrs. Shelmerdine, who watched her carefully, could detect no emotion, neither could she intercept a significant glance, when the captain took leave. The pair were perfectly on their guard.

Musgrave's last words to Emile were, "I have done Sir Norman's business with your master."

So Musgrave quitted Belfield, and travelled up to town that night. He fixed his quarters, as he had told Emile he would, at the Charing Cross Hotel.

333

THE GERMAN ALMANACKS FOR 1868.

THE outer life of Germany is known to every one. It is at the present moment a general but confused aspiration for unity, trammelled by old territorial and religious prejudices, and kingly, princely, and electoral privileges. The inner life is less easily come at, and, in the absence of personal residence, we have always held the annuals which Christmas lets loose upon us under the name of almanacks, to be among the best exponents. The poor lame man of the Spinnstube, for example, sitting in a cozy arm-chair between the candlestick and the fire, while Mother Eva, Amy, and Catherine are busily plying their wheels and distaff, is of itself a domestic picture, which carries us back almost to the middle ages. Nothing can be more primitive than the life of the peasantry in many parts of Germany. And rich, too, is that old man in his budget of stories, his "tried gold" maxims, and his riddles for the juveniles. Then there is "Steffen's Almanack," with its pretty plates, its homely advice to young housekeepers, and characteristic anecdotes, one of which, illustrative of a German's love for a title, is associated with the great Fritz, who must have lived through some such history every day of his existence. Then there is the "Illustrated Almanack," positively a ponderous tome, containing a complete history of the preceding year-the progress in art, science, and mechanical invention; an account of Germany, its present position, and its states; of Dreyse and the needle-gun; of ladies and their fashions. No subject is forgotten. Lastly, there is "Trewendt's Volks Kalender," full of interest; while little "Gubitz" comes lagging in modestly in the rear.

An anecdote which concerns such great personages as the Emperors Alexander of Russia and Francis of Austria can scarcely be said to be of a domestic character, yet it is so, and minutely so, in its details. It concerns, indeed, the dinner-table, where even emperors are no more than ordinary mortals. Alexander had remarked that the best dishes from the Emperor Francis's table made their way to the sideboard, and never reappeared. This occurred one day in the case of a pheasant, of which the emperor coveted possibly a leg and a wing and a bit of the breast." Alexander, annoyed at the disappearance of the bird which he had fancied, remained seated at table in moody silence, and in vain did the lovely Gabrielle von Auersperg try to enliven him; he remained mute. The diplomats apprehended an approaching storm, and expended their whole art in conjecturing what change in the fate of Europe he was revolving; not one could find out what was occupying his mind. Earlier than was his custom, and without any attendants, the emperor left the hall, and returned to his apartments through a private corridor. While passing along, his eye fell upon the rainbow-hue of a plume of feathers, which was thrust behind the curtains of a corner window, and was now agitated by the wind. The emperor drew near, his curiosity piqued, and pushing aside the curtain, found to his joy the vagrant bird upon a silver dish, surmounting a basket of unopened bottles of choice Burgundy and Tokay. Fortunately, no one was present to claim a share

in the prize, and Alexander removed the well-filled basket to his rooms. The next morning he invited the Emperor Francis to breakfast with him, and reserving to himself the honour of being butler to his guest, he placed the basket before him as he had found it behind the curtains, and related the particulars of his chase. The good-natured Francis was neither surprised nor irritated, but merely said, So, it appears that we act in small matters as you do in great.'

The tale of the physician writing his prescription on the door because he could find no paper in the farm-house, and of the peasant driving to the chemist in the town with the door in his cart, is well known; and the following incident, which took place at the baths of Gmunden, is of the same character. Count K., an eccentric nobleman, had been residing there for some weeks in a sumptuous style, when suddenly he left without paying the debts he had incurred. Some days after they discovered that their guest had glued bank-notes to the extent of his expenses on the table; and as it was not possible to release them from their position without destroying them, the landlord had no alternative but to send the notes to the bank at Vienna as they were-that is to say, fastened to the table. Being perfectly genuine they were accepted, although useless for further exchange.

A miser once said to a friend who complained of the annoyance of persons borrowing from him, "Why do you not do as I do? I keep two purses, one of which I call 'Some one,' the other, 'In the world.' I place all my money in the first purse, leaving the other empty, and when desired to lend, I declare that I have not a dollar in the world, and must myself have recourse to some one for means of subsistence. In this way I tell no falsehood, preserve my money, and am never annoyed."

"It is not every young lady," remarks a German philosopher of the genuine homely school, "who feels gratified at being compared to the rose and the lily; for the rose has thorns, and the lily, according to a biblical maxim, neither sews nor spins."

"The heart is always on the right side!" exclaimed some one in a mixed company. Another person present contradicted the remark, and observed, "I always thought the heart was on the left, and the liver on the right." The first speaker smiled, and answered: "It was so formerly, but now that is changed with our altered constitutions."

"Remain

A lady observed to her father, "Oh, how I dread marriage! I see nothing but misery and unhappiness arising from it." single," he answered. "Remain single!-what, all my life? The remedy is worse than the disease.”

The following is from a sermon preached in 1845: "Would you learn how the world forms her court? Know, then, that selfishness is the king, self-love the queen, acquisitiveness the minister, ambition and display the councillors, secresy and pride the chamberlains, vanity the court lady, envy the valet, and falsehood the maid."