wherever I go, and paying court to every pretty face, that claims my
admiration?"

"Nay, I think so _well_ of you, Eustace; I have such an exalted opinion
of your gallantry, that I cannot believe you would remain three months
in the very land of glorious chivalry, and prove disloyal to the cause!
Be candid, now, and tell me, if this nonpareil morceau has not served
you for a passport to the favor of the pretty villagers, as you
journeyed through the country?"

"I protest, Luciè, you are"--

"No protestations," interrupted Luciè, "I have not the 'faith of a grain
of mustard seed,' in them;--but, in honest truth, Eustace, your muse has
been wandering among the orange groves of France; she could never have
gathered so much _fragrance_, and _brightness_, and all that sort of
thing, from the pines and firs of this poor spot of earth!"

"And if she has culled the sweets of a milder region," said De Valette,
"it is only to form a garland for one, who is worthy of the fairest
flowers that blossom in the gardens of paradise."

"Very well, and quite poetic, monsieur; your Pegasus is in an ambling
mood to-night; but have a care that he do not throw you, as he did, of
old, the audacious mortal who attempted to soar too high. And I pray you
will have more regard to the truth, in future, and not scandalize the
evening star, by bringing it into your performance so out of season; it
may have shone upon the vineyards of Provence, but it is long since it
glittered in our northern hemisphere."