"'Yes, Mary,' said I, with more gravity than she was prepared for, 'she is a prude; but I am not certain that in foreign society, where less liberties are tolerated than in our country, if such a bearing be not wiser.' What I was going to plunge into, heaven knows, for the waiter entered at the moment, and presenting me with a large and carefully sealed package, said, 'de la part de mi ladi Lilfore,'--'but stay, here comes, if I am not mistaken, a better eulogy upon my dear aunt, than any I can pronounce.' "How heavy it is, said I to myself, balancing the parcel in my hand. 'There is no answer,' said I, aloud to the waiter, who stood as if expecting one. "'The servant wishes to have some acknowledgment in writing, sir, that it has been delivered into your own hands.' "Jepson entered,--'well, George, your parcel is all right, and here is a Napoleon to drink my health.' "Scarcely had the servants left the room, when Mary, whose curiosity was fully roused, rushed over, and tried to get the packet from me; after a short struggle, I yielded, and she flew to the end of the room, and tearing open the seals, several papers fell to the ground; before I could have time to snatch them up, she had read some lines written on the envelope, and turning towards me, threw her arms around my neck, and said, 'yes Jack, she is, indeed, all you have said; look here,' I turned and read--with what feeling I leave to you to guess--the following:-- "'Dear Nephew and Niece, "'The enclosed will convey to you, with my warmest wishes for your happiness, a ticket on the Francfort Lottery, of which I inclose the scheme. I also take the opportunity of saying that I have purchased the Hungarian pony for Mary--which we spoke of this morning. It is at Johnston's stable, and will be delivered on sending for it.' "'Think of that, Jack, the Borghese poney, with the silky tail; mine--Oh! what a dear good old soul; it was the very thing of all others I longed for, for they told me the princess had refused every offer for it.' "While Mary ran on in this strain, I sat mute and stupified; the sudden reverse my hopes had sustained, deprived me, for a moment, of all thought, and it was several minutes before I could rightly take in the full extent of my misfortunes. "How that crazy old maid, for such, alas, I called her to myself now, could have so blundered all my meaning--how she could so palpably have mistaken, I could not conceive; what a remedy for a man overwhelmed with debt--a ticket in a German lottery, and a cream-coloured pony, as if my whole life had not been one continued lottery, with every day a blank; and as to horses, I had eleven in my stables already. Perhaps she thought twelve would read better in my schedule, when I, next week, surrendered as insolvent.