The herald., 1898-10-02

every one Of them staunch and trusty
elevationists When impaired the fact
to them. without exception they waxed
Jealous in thine interest, and did swear
each and all that they would see thee
placed upon the throne Of thy fathers.
AS to betraying thee, they would suffer
themselves first, to be torn asunder by
wild horses. Gadsooks, what wouldst
thou? They are honest men, and thou
mayest put thy trust in them"
I had noticed the individuals with
whom he had been in converse, and it
struck me that their appearance had
been anything but honest. In fact,
their faces, or what could see of them,
had seemed to me most villainous and
sinister During the next quarter of
an hour, while I was by the side of
Brother Ambrose, he greeted several
cavaliers who passed US, and 1 was en-
abled to judge further, and more at
mine ease, of the peculiar quality of
his associates. They all seemed to have
an under-handed and furtive manner
their costumes We're ill-fitting, and
they glanced ever behind them. When
they met, they grasped each other by
the hand with peculiar grip, and If
hall, they signaled by putting the
thumb in the ear and moving the fin
gers up and down.
Truly" thought 7, these elevation
lists, If elevationists they be, be sour
w lot, and will do we'll to avoid them.
AS to this Brother Ambrose, who is
with me, besides being the smoothest
Of smooth shaven knaves, If he is not
also the veriest black-hearted cut
throat, then 1 am out in my reckoning
I had in mind at that moment an
other Brother Ambrose, him who is the
partner of Don Raphael in the amusing
history of Gil Bias; and it seemed to
me that I would be fortunate if 1 got
away from him with no greater injury
than that which the unsophisticated
Spaniard suffered from the two harpies
of the romance.
1 now perceived the Lady Ippolita
coming in my direction. She was beset
by a perfect swarm of upstart and
dandified coxcombs, so that she resem-
bled a lovely flower with cloud OF
butterflies lowering around it. AS she
could scarcely advance, on account OF
their importuning her and putting
themselves in her path, 1 forced my
way through the crowd and FASTENED
to her side. In doing so, 1 stepped upon
the toes of some fine-feathered gallant
and, almost Immediately, 1 felt a dab
in my left side, and caught the CLEAN
of something which seemed like steel
l turned toward him and found him
gazing unconcernedly in the opposite
direction, as though he were totally I'M
aware of my presence; and 1t struck
me that the whole thing was one OF
those little pleasantries with which
gentlemen of gaiety and humor often
indulge themselves. But when found
later in the evening that there was a
slit of an inch or so in length through
my velvet doublet, in the neighborhood
of the fifth rib. I gave over thinking
that it had been intended as joke, and
the prudence which had suggested my
wearing beneath my outer clothing the
trusty steel shirt or hauberk. AS !
drew near the countess. she was just
disengaging herself from a beardless
and foppish youth. He was expostu-
lating with her, and my indignation
AMI horror may be better imagined than
described when 1 heard him address
her as Polly" The thing was sacri-
lege and a proclamation. To bespeak
this peerless and beauteous goddess by
her Christian name was something
which yet 1 dared not to; and to think
that the lovely Ippolita should, by this
jackanapes, be called Polly!
"Who is the callow youth, fair
countess, who thus abbreviates thy
name, in addressing thAa%'