Yours truly, and yours rurally,

SARSFIELD YOUNG.

* * * * *

OUR PORTFOLIO.

PARIS, THIRD WEEK OF THE REPUBLIC, 1870.

DEAR PUNCHINELLO: I concluded I would leave Paris for Tours last week,
as the refusal of Life Insurance Companies to take war risks made me
apprehensive for the temporal welfare of the youthful TINTOS in case I
should be untimely called hence. It was a wise resolution, but a few
trifling obstacles, to which I shall refer, prevented me from carrying
it out.

WASHBURNE advised me, as the safest means of escape, to adopt the
character of an American tourist, with which disguise he thought the
Gallic cast of my features would not materially interfere. I took the
hint, and, assuming my scrip and staff, set forth by way of the Neuilly
gate towards Courbevoie. It was after nightfall when I reached the
bridge that crosses the Seine in that neighborhood. A _garde mobile_ was
pacing over the crest of the slight acclivity that rises near its
eastern extremity.

As I approached he came to a halt, and challenged me sharply.

_"Qui va là?"_