The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-02

. too ready to bestow but also by sights | and insults purely imaginary. The exile | had pawned everything of value that he | possessed, and lived upon bread and wa | ter for days, before he found finally the | means of a scanty livelihood by the sale | of water-color drawings, in the produc- | ton of which he had considerable skill. l One evening as Thaddeus was return | ing to his mean lodgings he saw Penn | broke Somerset entering @ theatre with company of ladies and gentlemen. Somerset" cried Thaddeus. But Penn | broke, apparently, did not hear him and | passed on into the theatre.
 On his return home the exile wrote and | dispatched a letter to his former friend. He wrote that a sight of him had swept | away all his resentment He could not | but believe that Pembroke's long silence was capable of some explanation and I begged In the name of old times that l Somerset would call at his lodgings and 1 permit him to embrace onuce more his | companion of Villanow. Receiving no | reply Thaddeus wrote a second note, | which he carried himself to Sir Roberts house and left with footman, with in- | structions to give 1t Into Pembroke's own hands.
 He was moodily pursuing his homeward | route. In deep dejection, when his atten- | ton was attracted by an aged man who, | in broken French, was appealing to the l passersby for aims With start of hor- | TOT Thaddeus saw that the mendicant was | General Butzou, one of the bravest and | most skilled defenders of unhappy Poland, | the friend of his grandfather and the be- | loved of the unfortunate king of Stanis- | laus.
 Father of merces!" cried the beggar at the sound of the voice of Thaddeus. | Am I so blessed? Have I at last met | him?" and bursting into tears he leaned | upon the arm of the count who, hardly | able to. articulate, exclaimed, Dear,
 worthy Butzou! What a time is this for l you and me to meet! But come, you must 1 go home with me"
 l So Thaddeus. in his dire poverty, now 1 found himself burdened with the support | of 8 helpless old man whose body, worn 1 out by wounds and wars was animated | by mind impaired by the great grief
 he had experienced at the destruction of | his country, the death of his relatives and friends and the imprisonment of his be- | loved sovereign.
 At his lodgings the count found pack
 age addressed, apparently, in the hand writing of Pembroke Somerset. Eagerly l he opened 1t. It contained the two let | ters which he had written to Somerset, I returned without comment.
 "Oh Somersetl' he cried, as the papers | lay before him. Was it necessary that | insult should be added to unfaithfulness I and ingra titude?"
 Nlght and day Thaddeus toiled to make | a scanty living for himself and his help | less charge. One night, after leaving his work at the print sellers he proceeded | through Piccadily intending to go as ] far as Hyde Park corner and return. | Pleased with the beauty of the night, ne walked on, not remarking that he had | passed the turnpike until he heard a scream and perceived a delicate looking woman struggling in the grasp of 8 ruff I fan. To put the rufian to fight and rescue the woman was the work of an I instant with Thaddeus and finding the 1 lady incapable of walking without as- l sistancc on account of her agitation, he | begged permission to see her to her home. She proved to be the countess of Tine mouth; and this was the beginning of a | friendship which, as she made her house | free to Thaddeus, afforded the exile some |, relaxation from the constant round of
 tolls and duties that oppressed him. | In Lady Tinemouths house was a live l ly young lady, Mlss Maria Egerton who 1 described MT. Constantine to her friend, | Lady Sara Roos, Ia soldier by his | dress, man of rank by his manners an | Apollo in his person and a hero from his | gallantry" But Miss Egerton was not
 so complimentary to Thaddeus to his face
 and rallied him unmercfully.
 DO, for heavens sake, my dear Don | Quixote," said the lively young person | one night to Thaddeus, let see you | out of your rusty armor.'
 1 "I did not know till you were so kind | as to inform me- replied Thaddeus, that
 mans temper depends upon his | clohtes.'
 "Else I suppose you would have changed | them long ago." retored Miss Egerton; "therefore I expect you will do as I bid | and put on a Christian coat against you | next enter this house."
 l Thaddeus could only bow. Lady Sara | Roos smiled and sighed. Lady Sara had 1 fallen desperately in love with the noble | Pole. She had husband with whom she was not in love-Captain Roos, a naval officer now at sea-
 Miss Egerton imagined that MT. Con- stantine' wore the military dress of his ] country because 1t was most becoming; but | Lady Tinemouth, who had come to re- 1 gard the Count as son, rightly divined | the true cause-inabillty to purchase other | garments.
 On the occasion of his next call she re- | ceived him alone in her cabinet. When | Thaddeus, noticing the unhappy look of the Countess. inquired solicitiousy after | her health, she replied: Alas. I am very | miserable. I have no joy but in the few | friends whom heaven has preserved to | me, and yet some of those friends who
 afford me the most consolation deny me | the only return in my power-the office | of sharing their grefs. I cannot deny what your countenance declares; you | think mean you, MT. Constantine. do.
 Forgive me if I give you pain, but I speak to you as I would to my own son i were he in your situation
 l Much touched by the kind words of the !! Countess, Thaddeous confessed to her his I poverty and at last told her his name | and rank, which he begged she would | keep secret. as titles and honors i'll be- came one in his condition.
 l Lady Tinemouth somehow found her i self confiding to Thaddeus the story of
 her own unhappy life. She was estranged l from her husband who had become in- | fatuated with the notorious Lady Sophia | Lovel. who now occupied in the house. | hold of the Earl the position which right | fully belonged to his wife. Her son had | taken his fathers side and her daughter. | the Lady Albina, she had not been per mitted to see since the child was a year | old.
 | In telling of Lord Tinemouth's wooing, 1 the Countess incidentally mentioned that | he had travelled in Italy at one time under
 the name of Sackvle. The date corre-
 sponded with that of Therese Sobieskds