Page:Paine--J Archibauld McKaney collector of whiskers.djvu/132

  adornment of a certain illustrious ruler of a European state whose name I must withhold. Suffice it to say that he was generally acknowledged to wear one of the most magnificent beards in Christendom. Diplomacy and intrigue had failed me and I had about given up this specimen as hopeless.

While traveling on the Continent I was one day filled with excitement to behold this illustrious sovereign enter a first-class railway carriage in my own train. He was accompanied by a military officer of high rank, and I guessed that he was making a journey incog. I could not help fingering a pair of folding scissors in my waistcoat pocket, but of course I was not mad enough to attempt an open assault upon the coveted trophy.

Presently the train pulled out from the station and there I sat with only the walls of a compartment carriage between me and the prize that I would have given a handsome fortune to possess. I racked my brains to devise some scheme for making the acquaintance of His Majesty, but my mission was 114]