to getting DAUBINET alone and obtaining definite information from him.
Are they VESQUIER's caves we are going to see? "No," DAUBINET tells me
presently, quite surprised, at my ignorance; "we are going to see _les
caves de Popperie_--Popp & Co., only Co.'s out of it, and it's all
POPP now."

"Now then, Gentlemen," says the _gérant_ of POPP & Co, "here's a
_voiture_. We have twenty minutes' drive." The Popp-Manager points
out to me all the interesting features of the country. DAUBINET amuses
himself by sitting on the box and talking to the coachman.

"It excites me," he explains, when requested to take a back seat
inside--though, by the way, it is in no sense DAUBINET's _métier_
to "take a back seat,"--"it excites me--it amuses me to talk to a
_cocher. On ne peut pas causer avec un vrai cocher tous les jours._"
And presently we see them gesticulating to each other and talking
both at once, DAUBINET, of course, is speaking English and various
other languages, but as little French as possible, to the evident
bewilderment of the driver. DAUBINET is perfectly happy. "Petzikoff!
Blass the Prince of WAILES!" I hear him bursting out occasionally.
Whereat the coachman smiles knowingly, and flicks the horses.

* * * * *

THE TWO WINDS.

(_A FAIRY STORY FOR THE SEASON OF 1891. IMITATED--AT A DISTANCE--FROM
HANS ANDERSEN'S CELEBRATED TALE OF "THE FOUR WINDS."_)

[Illustration]