"It's true, I swear to you. The verses were bad enough, as I have said, but I was arrested on the 15th Fructidor and taken to La Force. I was tried on the 16th and condemned to death, and the sentence was afterwards commuted to transportation.'

"Good heavens, these lawyers are precious thin-skinned! Do you know, my friend, that letter orders me to shoot you, here?'

"He made no reply, and he took it very well for a young man of only nineteen years of age. He only looked at his wife, and wiped away two or three drops of perspiration that would have fallen from his forehead. I had some on my face too and other drops in my eyes for the matter of that: I went on.

"It seems these good citizens didn't choose to murder you on dry land, and thought no one would hear much about it if it were done out here. It's an awful affair for me, but I must do my duty. The sentence of death is in perfect form; signed, sealed, and initialed —nothing is wanting.'

“He made me a bow, but his face flushed up.

"I have no request to make to you, captain,' said he, in almost his usual tone of voice. I should not like to stand between you and your duty. All I ask is to be allowed to speak to Laura; and I beseech you to protect her so long as she survives me, which I don't think will be very long.'

"Be assured of that, my poor fellow. Don't let that trouble you, for I will take her safely home to her family on my return to France, and I will never leave her so long as she wishes to see me. But I believe you are right, and that she will never get over it.'

"The poor fellow took both my hands in his and squeezed them warmly.

"My dear old friend, I pity you more for what you have to do, than I do myself for what I have to suffer. I want you to protect her, and watch over her until she is handed over to her mother.' Then, in a low voice, he added, 'Let me tell you that her health is very delicate, that her chest is affected, and it is necessary she should wrap herself up well at times. I know that you will be all to her that her father and mother could be to her - won't you, now? If it could be arranged that

she should keep the rings her mother gave her, I should be very glad. But, if it turns out that they must be sold, I think you will find that they will fetch a good sum. My poor Laura - how beautiful she is!'

"All this began to be more than I could stand, and although I had hitherto spoken to him in a cheerful way to keep up his spirits I could no longer do so.

"Between brave men there is nothing more to be said. Everything else is understood. Go and speak to her now and let us lose no time.'

"I shook hands again with him as I said this, but as he still retained mine in his grasp I looked him straight in the face and added, 'If I might be allowed to give a last word of advice it would be not to say a word of this to her. It shall be arranged without her, or even you, knowing anything about it. That is my busi

ness.'

"Ah! well, yes, perhaps you're right. Farewells are dangerous, very dangerous.'

"Yes, yes,' said I, 'don't be a child, and all will go well. Whatever you do, don't kiss her if you can help it; if you do, you're lost.'

"I gave him another grip with my hand and let him go. How hard it all was to bear!

"It seemed to me, as I watched him, that he kept the secret as we had arranged, for they paced the deck together for more than half an hour, arm in arm, and then they went over to the side of the ship and began fishing up the bits of seaweed with the line she had dropped, and which one of the cabin boys had managed to get hold of again. All of a sudden the night was upon us, as is usual in these latitudes. It was the moment I had selected for the fulfilment of my duty, but its mournful recollection has never since left me for an hour, and I drag it about with me as a convict does a chained shot."

The evident emotion of the old officer when he reached this point in his narrative compelled him to pause, and when he resumed it, after an interval of a few minutes, it was in a somewhat incoherent strain, in which a sort of running commentary was muttered to himself on the changing phases of his story.

"I called up the second lieutenant on to the quarter-deck and gave him his orders. Since we are ordered to turn butchers and executioners, launch the first cutter without delay. Put that wom

an into her, and row straight away from the ship until you hear the report of six muskets; then turn about and return.'' Here he muttered to himself, "Obey a mere scrap of paper like that for that was all it really was! I must have been possessed by some foul fiend. I saw that unhappy young man kneel down and kiss her knees and feet when the sailors approached her, and I ordered them to separate them. Oh, God, I see it all now!" He stopped short suddenly in front of

me.

"I tell you I was like a madman. 'Separate them,' I cried, for we are all a set of scoundrels. The Republic is dead. Directors, Directory, they are nothing but vermin. See what these villains of lawyers have forced me to do. If I had but the five wretches here I would shoot them every one. I swear I would as the heavens are above me!' I saw the men staring at me, and evidently thinking I had lost my wits, but what did I care for them or for my life? Not so much as for this rain that is falling on me now."

He turned from me and strode away, muttering to himself and clenching his fists, whilst he occasionally struck the mule with the hilt of his sword as if he meant to kill the poor animal. His face was so convulsed that his bushy eyebrows fairly met; and the weather-beaten hue of his face turned to so deep a crimson that I thought he must have a fit of apoplexy. In his excitement he threw his cloak from off his shoulders, leaving his breast fully exposed to the wind and rain, of which he seemed quite unconscious, and thus we marched along, side by side, until I plainly saw that if I wanted to hear the conclusion of this sorrowful story I must break the silence.

"I can quite understand," said I, as if he had finished his story," that after such an occurrence as that one holds one's duty in abhorrence."

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Duty, duty! Are you mad? It is not duty at all. No captain of a ship ought to become a butcher, and would never be asked to, except under the government of a set of thieves and assassins, who take advantage of the habit of a poor fool to obey blindly, to obey always, in fact to obey like a machine, and against all his better nature."

Then he drew a red handkerchief from his pocket, and burst into an ungovernable flood of tears, which he made no attempt to control; seeing which, I pre

tended something was amiss with the girths of my saddle, and drew back behind the little cart, fearing he might feel humiliated if he had me as a spectator of his affliction. I had rightly judged, for in little more than a quarter of an hour he rejoined me, and, with an attempt at indifference, abruptly asked me if I had any razors in my portmanteau, to which I naturally replied that it would be time enough to get them when I had some semblance of a beard. He seemed pleased at the manner in which I had answered him, and, after a short pause,

"I dare say you've never seen a ship in your life, and don't know the poop from the stern?"

I was obliged to confess my ignorance, and he gave me a long description of each, adding with regard to the former, "It is there a man is placed when he is ordered to be shot."

"I understand," said I; "he tumbles into the sea, and there is no more trouble."

He made no direct answer to this remark, but began talking about the number of boats à corvette generally carries, and their several positions on the deck, and thus he insensibly glided back to the subject which evidently occupied all his thoughts.

"The sailors carried Laura off into a six-oared boat before she had time to cry out or speak to me, but it is astonishing what a set of fools there are in the world who always manage to do what they are ordered in the wrong way. Poor, poor Laura! The officer in command of the boat was actually fool enough to row away straight in front of the ship, and, as for me, I had calculated on the night concealing the work we were about, totally forgetting that the flash of the muskets must naturally light up the scene. Well, to cut it short, from the boat she saw her husband fall, shot dead, into the sea!

"Our merciful God above alone knows how such things come to pass as I am about to tell you at least I know that I can't explain them; but the moment the volley was fired, she raised her hand to her forehead as if a bullet had struck her, and there she sat in the boat, without fainting, without screaming, without speaking, and returned to the corvette when and as they willed. I went to meet her, and I spoke a long time to her, and said what I thought was best. Her forehead was a bright red, whilst her face was deadly pale, and she seemed as it she listened to me, and looked me steadily

"Can you wonder that I have devoted my life to the fulfilment of the promise I made to that poor murdered lad, and that my conscience has ordered me to cherish and take care of poor Laura so long as I am spared on this earth? When I returned to France I claimed my rank in the army, having taken a dislike to the sea, because I had shed innocent blood there; and when the arrangements had been carried out, I obtained leave of absence, and left with Laura for her old home, intending to leave her with her family. Unhappily, I found that her mother was dead; and what do you think her sisters said to me? They proposed to put her in the madhouse at Charenton, and I turned my back on them, and have ever since taken care of her myself."

"Is she inside there, then?" asked I, pointing to the cart.

"Certainly she is; and you may see her if you like," and he called to the mule to stop.

CHAPTER IV.

THE weary mule stopped readily enough, and my companion drew aside the tarpaulin and began to arrange the straw at the bottom of the cart, whilst I looked in and saw a very painful sight. I saw two enormous blue eyes, beautifully shaped, but apparently out of all proportion to the rest of the countenance. The head was perfectly formed and covered with a world of lovely light hair, but the forehead was flushed as he had described, whilst the rest of the face looked like that of a corpse. She was nestled down in the straw, except her knees, upon which she was engaged in playing dominoes. She looked up at us, trembled all over, then smiled faintly at her old protector, and recommenced her game. She seemed as if she was playing with her right hand against her left.

"It is a month and more that she has played that game," the major observed, "and perhaps she will continue to do so for some time longer, and then perhaps she will take up backgammon, or something like it. It is extraordinary, isn't it?" and he replaced the oilskin on his

two splendid diamond rings on her fingers, which I at once identified as those of her mother, and wondered how they had been preserved through so many vicissitudes. For the whole world I would not have dared to say this to the major, but he noticed that my eyes were fixed on the trinkets, and said with a certain air of pride,

'They are fine diamonds, are they not? and would doubtless have fetched their value if necessity had arisen, but I would not allow them to be taken away from the poor child. She cries if any one touches them, and she never takes them off. She never complains, and occasionally she does a little needlework. I have kept my word to her poor little husband, and, to tell you the truth, I don't repent my promise. I have never left her, and I tell every one that she is my daughter, and is mad. That sort of thing is respected in the army, and is more easily arranged than you people in Paris would think possible. She has been through all the wars of the empire with me, and I have always managed to get her safely through them. With plenty of straw and this little carriage, it was easier than you would imagine; and as I was a major on full pay, with a pension as an officer of the Legion of Honor, and the gratuities Napoleon gave his soldiers, I have never been pushed for money. There isn't a man in the 7th Lights, officer or man, who doesn't know poor Laura, and love her." Then he touched her lightly on her shoulder and said,

"Now, my child, say a word to the lieutenant who is standing there. Just a little nod of your head."

She looked vacantly at me, and betook herself again to her dominoes.

"Ah!" said he, "she's a little put out to-day because of the rain. Luckily she never catches cold, and they say mad people are never ill. At the Beresina, and throughout the retreat from Moscow, she always went bareheaded. Go on, my child, play away, and don't trouble yourself about us. Do just as you like, Laurette."

She took the hand he had laid on her shoulder, a black, wrinkled hand, and lifted it timidly to her lips and kissed it

like a slave. It made my heart ache to see it, and I called out immediately, "Come, major, let us get on, or the night will be upon us before we reach Béthune."

He carefully scraped the yellow mud off his boots with the end of the scabbard of his sabre; then he got upon the footboard of the cart, and drew the hood of the cloak over the girl's head, and, taking a black silk handkerchief from his neck, tied it around her. He then replaced the tarpaulin, started the mule, and with the customary hitch of his shoulder we resumed the march. The rain fell heavily, the sky was dark and threatening, and the weary road stretched away before us in a never-ending line, and even the frightful windmills which studded the country seemed unable to move under the universal depression. We fell into silence, and I watched the old officer as he strode along with undiminished energy, when the mule appeared nearly done up, and even my horse began to show symptoms of fatigue. Every now and then the brave old fellow took off his shako to wipe the perspiration from his brow or the rain from his thin grey hair, from his white moustaches, or his thick eyebrows. He did not seem to trouble himself in the least with the effect his story might have had upon me, and he had plainly sought to make it neither better nor worse than the reality, but after some time he fell back alongside of me again, and began an interminable story of a campaign he had once gone through with Marshal Massena in Spain, in which his regiment, formed in square, had beaten off three successive charges of cavalry. I could not listen to it, although he entered into a long disquisition to prove the superiority of infantry over cavalry. At last the night came down upon us, the mud became thicker and deeper, and not a hovel of even the humblest kind was to be seen near the road. We stopped at last under a dead tree, the only one near the highroad, and he at once began to tend his mule, and I did what I could for my horse. Then he looked into the cart as tenderly as a mother looks into the cradle of her infant, and I heard him say, "There, my child, put that mat round your feet and try to go to sleep."

Turning to me, he added, "That's all right. She hasn't had a drop of rain inside," and then placing some straw under the cart we crawled on to it to get out of the rain, and he produced a loaf of bread, which he shared between us.

"I'm sorry I can't give you anything better for supper, but it is not so bad as the steak of horse, cooked with powder instead of salt, that we had to eat in Russia. I always manage to have something a little better for her, and she likes to have her meals by herself; for she can't bear a man to come near her since that affair of the letter."

As he finished speaking we heard her sigh and say, "Take away the bullet; take the bullet out of my head."

I started up, but he made me sit down again. "Sit still, sit still," said he, that's nothing. She has said that all her life, for she always believes she feels the bullet in her brain. It is the only sign she ever gives of all the suffering she has gone through; and a dear, sweet creature she is."

I listened sadly to this without speaking, and then I calculated that no less than eighteen years had elapsed since 1797, during all which period this drama had been daily enacted, and I mused on the character of the man seated beside me. At last I could stand it no longer, and turning suddenly to him, and seizing his hand, I shook it warmly.

"You're a downright worthy fellow," said I.

"And why?" replied he, with an astonished air. "You mean because of the poor girl there? Don't you see it is my duty!" Then he went off into another story about Massena. The next morning early we reached the little ugly town of Béthune, where everything was in the greatest confusion, for" boot and saddle" had just been sounded, and the inhabitants were already beginning to stow away the white flag to make room for the tricolor. Drums were beating the assembly, the Cent-Gardes were tering, the squadrons of the mounted body-guard were forming around the carriage of the princes, and the streets were filled with the soldiery and the baggage wagons. The sight of my own regiment made me forget my old companion on the march, and joining my squadron I lost sight of his little cart in the crowd. Alas! I never saw him again.

mus

Often and often had I wondered what had become of him, but I had stupidly forgotten to ask his name, and such inquiries as I could make had not resulted in obtaining any information about him. One day, however - I think it was in 1825- when I happened to be describing him to an old captain of infantry, I proved to be more fortunate.

gives no account of it, except as a mere accident, which, on the doctrine of chances, should be perhaps a very rare and unusual accident. Hence the exist

"He did his duty, then, to the last," I replied. "When we answer to the final roll-call, I hope we may be able to give as good an account of ourselves as he will." "Amen," murmured my friend.

From The Contemporary Review.

ite theme of the theistic believers. "Let them know how much better the Lord of them is," says the author of the Wisdom of Solomon, speaking of the works of nature, "for the first Author of beauty hath created them. . . for by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen.”* The same familiar view has lately been presented by the Duke of Argyll in his 'Reign of Law:"†

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It would be to doubt the evidence of our senses and of our reason, or else to assume

BEAUTY.

THE question which I propose to consider in this paper is how far the beauty of blossoms can be accounted for by the utility of this beauty to the plant producing them. It is manifestly only one particular case of a larger inquiry whether the beauty which nature exhibits can be accounted for by its utility.

These questions connect themselves with some of the highest points of the philosophy of the universe. Is the system of the universe intellectual, or is it purely material? Is there an ordering mind, or is there merely blind and struggling matter? Are there final causes as well as material causes, or are there material causes only?

These questions have been asked and answered in opposite senses, from the first dawn of philosophy to the present hour; and during all that period of time the battle has been raging-and has spread, too, over the whole realm of nature. Scarcely any branch of natural science exists which has not furnished materials for at least a skirmish; so that it requires an experienced and impartial eye to be able rightly to understand the true fortunes of the contest over the whole field of battle. True it is, that for every man the question between the two theories has to be decided by somewhat simpler considerations than any such survey. Something in every man seems inevitably to determine him towards either the intellectual or the material theory of things. The existence of beauty in the world is a very remarkable fact. On the theory of a divine and beneficent Creator, this fact has seemed no difficulty; but the theory of a mere blind fermentation of matter

ever, if we were to doubt that mere ornament, mere variety, are as much an end and aim in the workshop of Nature as they are known to be in the workshop of the goldsmith and the jeweller. Why should they not? The love and desire of these is universal in the mind of man. It is seen not more distinctly in the highest forms of civilized art than in the habits of the rudest savage, who covers with elaborate carving the handle of his war-club or the prow of his canoe. versal aim and purpose of the mind of man Is it likely that, this unishould be wholly without relation to the aims and purposes of his Creator? He that formed the eye to see beauty, shall he not see it? He that gave the human hand its cunning to work for beauty, shall his hand never work for it? How, then, shall we account for all the beauty - for the careful provision made for it where it is only the secondary object, not the first?

of the world