"Ladies and gentlemen," said I, assuming a pose of the most dignified importance, "before entering upon the circumstance to which you have so graciously attached a little interest, let me assure you--not that the fact can or ought to have any weight with this distinguished company--that I have no claim upon your sympathy with regard to any of the pleas whispered around me. I am neither thief, pickpocket, runaway postman, burglar, nor highwayman. If I be, as you are pleased to say, 'wide awake,' I believe it is only a common precaution, considering the company I find myself in; and if I really could lay claim to the flattering praise of a fair lady on the left, it would be merely from accidentally reflecting her own bright glances. I present myself, then, with much diffidence before you, for the simple reason that I come in a character somewhat strange in these parts,--I am a gentleman!" The ineffable impertinence of this address succeeded to a miracle. Some laughed, some applauded, a few muttered an unintelligible discontent; but the majority of the men and all the women were with me, and I saw that audacity had gained the day. Ay, and so will it ninety-nine times out of the hundred in everything through life! The strategic axiom, that no fortress is impregnable, is a valuable worldly lesson, and one ought never to forget that a storming-party rarely fails. "The circumstance to which I alluded a few miuutes back--I dare not presume to call it a story--occurred thus : "There was a large and brilliant party assembled to pass the Christmas at the Duke of Y--------'s; you will understand my reserve. The company included many of the first persons in fashionable life, and a Royal *Duke to boot, a great friend of her Grace, and, some said, an old admirer of one of her sisters, who--so went the rumor--showed the strength of her attachment to his Royal Highness by never having accepted any of the brilliant offers of marriage made her. She was remarkably beautiful, and although a little past the first bloom of youth, in full possession of her charms at the time I speak of. Old Lord K-------- was one of the guests; and I am sure many of the distinguished company to whom I now address myself will not need any more particular description of the man they must have met a hundred times every London season, well known, indeed, as he is, with his light-blue coat and his buckskin tights, his wide beaver hat, and his queue; his eccentricities, his wealth, and his great avarice are themes all London is acquainted with." I paused. A buzz of acknowledgment and recognition followed, and I resumed:--