What I thought my ruin was the dawn of my most prosperous day. I rushed down to the _lavandera_. I scolded like a madman about my silk stockings. I demanded that she should instantly produce them. She could not do so, and I accused her of having pawned them. Thereupon she burst into tears, and acknowledged that she had lent them to Manuel G----y, the royal guard, who was to appear that day on duty at the queen's dinner. A mysterious hint had been given him, by an old lady of the court, to dress himself as handsomely as possible, intimating that his future success in life might depend very much upon his personal appearance. As soon as I learned that they had been lent to G----y, for whom I had a real regard, my wrath evaporated. 'Let him keep them as long as he likes,' I said, 'and tell him, when my silk stockings have made his fortune, I hope he will make mine; but in the mean time, my good girl, though I have only two pairs left, you must contrive that I have a clean pair each day.' The girl afterwards assured me that she had given him my message, and that G----y said he would not forget me. But what was my surprise, not a week after, to hear that he had received a lieutenant's commission in his corps!--and then, with the most marvellous rapidity, came the intelligence of his being a captain, colonel, general, a grandee of Spain, a prince, a prime minister. During all this time I heard nothing of him, and I concluded----"[1] -------------------- [Footnote 1: It may be as well to state, that this story of Carlo Carlini was told to the author, word for word, as it is here written down, by Carlo Carlini himself, then the author's servant. I cannot forbear adding, that a more faithful, honest, intelligent man never lived; and that, after having left my service, on my return to England, he entered that of my friend, the late Mr. Scott, Consul-General at Bordeaux, where he gained the esteem of all, and died, I believe, in the arms of his young master, the present Mr. Scott.] -------------------- "Here is that person again, sir, inquiring for the colonel," said the inferior waiter, whose peculiar task it was to attend upon the 'gentlemen's gentlemen.' "Send him in; send him in," said Carlini, stopping in his story. "You, Mr. Brown, have to deal with him, you know." The moment after, the door was again opened, and Mr. Mingy Bowes entered, his face suddenly assuming a look of extreme surprise on perceiving the person of the pedlar before him. CHAPTER XXIX.