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Rh "that you have been rehearsing this description at the feet of Mademoiselle Scuderi herself. "

"Pardon me," replied De Joinville; "your presence has been my sole inspiration. But to return to my Amadis and Oriana; you know I am not a selfish person, so I could not keep the pleasure of my company to myself; and urging my horse into a more rapid pace, I overtook them, rich in all the news of Paris, garnered for a week or more."

"Well, in spite of le parfait amour, I can readily believe you were gratefully received. Ah! the country teaches us to appreciate people."

"For once in your life you are mistaken. By the by, is not the novelty of the sensation rather agreeable? But the case is sufficiently extraordinary to leave even your sagacity at fault. I was actually de trop."

"Pray," interrupted Francesca, "did you find the novelty of the sensation agreeable?"

The Chevalier laughed, and said, "Yes, one likes to add to one's experience, and to find that the impossible does sometimes occur. I began telling them the wonders of the world which they had quitted; but they had no smiles but for each other, no ears but for honied words—each sank into a tender silence, and had I come from the