"Then I'm not sorry at all, O'Donahue, and I'll tell you why. I should have enjoyed myself, I do not doubt--but I should have enjoyed myself too much; and, after dining with ambassadors, and princes, and counts, and all that thing--should I ever have gone back comfortable and contented to Mrs McShane, and the cook's shop? No, no--I'm not exactly reconciled, as it is; and if I were to be drinking champagne, and 'ating French kickshaws with the Russian nobility for three or four months, dancing perhaps with princesses, and whispering in the ears of duchesses, wouldn't my nose turn up with contempt at the beefsteak pie, and poor Mrs McShane, with all her kind smiles, look twice as corpulent as ever? No, no, I'm better here, and I'm a wise man, although I say it myself." "Well, perhaps you are, McShane; but still I do not like that I should be spending your money in this way without your having your share of it at least." "My share of it--now, O'Donahue, suppose I had come over here on my own account, where should I have been? I could not have mustered up the amiable impudence you did, to persuade the commander-in-chief to give me letters to the ambassador: nor could I have got up such a turn-out, nor have fitted the turn-out so well as you do. I should have been as stupid as an owl, just doing what I have done the whole of the blessed morning for want of your company--looking after one of the floating bridges across the river, and spitting into the stream, just to add my mite to the Baltic Sea." "I'm sorry you were not better amused." "I was amused; for I was thinking of the good-humoured face of Mrs McShane, which was much better than being in high company, and forgetting her entirely. Let me alone for amusing myself after my own fashion, O'Donahue, and that's all I wish. I suppose you have heard nothing in your travels about your Powlish princess?" "Of course not; it will require some tact to bring in her name--I must do it as if by mere accident." "Shall I ask the courier if she is an acquaintance of his?" "An acquaintance, McShane?" "I don't mean on visiting terms; but if he knows anything about the family, or where they live?" "No, McShane, I think you had better not; we do not know much of him at present. I shall dine at the ambassador's tomorrow, and there will be a large party." During the day invitations for evening parties were brought in from the Prince Gallitzin and Princess Woronzoff. "The plot thickens fast, as the saying is," observed McShane; "you'll be certain to meet your fair lady at some of these places." "That is what I trust to do," replied O'Donahue; "if not, as soon as I'm intimate, I shall make inquiries about her; but we must first see how the land lies."