FROM THE FRENCH OF QUATRKLLE9. 44 To M. Ferdinand—l will listen to you gladly. Come on Tuesday morn ing to the Park, on horseback, at nine o'clock to the place where we met a year ago.—Marcelle." The first sentence of this little note opened the gates of Paradise to Ferdin and. The remainder, on the contrary, closed them and turned the key. 44 1 will listen to you gladly." 0, rapture! 41 Come on Tuesday morning to the Park." 0, perfect joy! "On horseback !" wretched ill-luck!

Ferdinand was dizzy on the back of a rocking-horse. What should he do ? What would become of him ? Should he write? She had forbidden it Besides, what had he to pay ? That he did not know how to sit a horse ? Death sooner than that! It would be a small thing to break his neck; but to cover himself with ridicule before Marcelle, would kill him on the S|>ot. 44 Whatever happens, on Tuesday, at nine o'clock I shall be at the Pars on horseback, as she has directed. It is a retired spot, and I can go to it in a carriage. I will be the first there. I will invite her to enter the carriage, and my groom shall hold our horses while I ask the momentous question. But what hinders me, pray, from going to a riding master, just as a man on the eve of a combat consults* a fencing master when he is a novice ? He will surely enable me to cut a fair figure." Ferdinand found his way, without loss of an instant, to the nearest riding school.
