Page:Libussa, Duchess of Bohemia; also, The Man Without a Name.djvu/111

Rh scendant of a grand-master of Malta, and on his mother’s side a nephew to the Grand Turk, by others the son of a Neapolitan coachman, and still by others the own brother of Zanowich, the known Prince of Albania; and as to his calling, some believed him to be a being gifted with the power of performing miracles, and others to be a hair-dresser by profession. But as to handsome Fred, all were unanimous about his having entered the army as a common soldier, and having risen by his own merit to the grade of a captain commanding a squadron, and that if he was further favoured by fortune, he would rapidly rise to the highest posts in the army.

The secret inquiries of the inquisitive Emily soon became known to him; his friends had thought to flatter him with the announcement of it, which they accompanied by all sorts of favourable suppositions. He, however, pretended to take them as an insulting joke, although he was right glad to hear that the young lady had made inquiries about him. For when he first saw her, he was charmingly surprised, which is generally the precursor of love.

No idiom possesses such energy, and is at the same time so intelligible and expressive, as the sentiment of sweet sympathies, through the