XVIII. DICK GIVES A SPECIMEN OF AMERICAN SHOOTING 452 XIX. THE FAVOR OF A PRINCE 474 XX. THE HONOR OF A LADY-IN-WAITING 499 XXI. "THE ROAD TO PARIS" 524 ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE "A WILD THRUST BETRAYED THAT HIS EYE WAS NO LONGER TRUE" _Frontispiece_ "THE NEWCOMER WAS APPARENTLY ABOUT FORTY YEARS OLD" 36 "IT WAS THE MAN SENT BY ARNOLD" 223 "BEARING THE SWOONING FORM OF AMABEL" 294 "'OH, YOU HAVE A VISITOR! MON DIEU, SILVIUS!'" 431 "FREDERICK II. RECOILED A STEP OR TWO" 518 INTRODUCTION. "With our company of riflemen that marched in Arnold's army through the Maine wilderness to attack Quebec, there was a sergeant's wife, a large and sturdy woman, no common camp-follower, but decent and respected, who one day, when the troops started to wade through a freezing pond, of which they broke the thin ice coating with the butts of their guns, calmly lifted her skirts above her waist and strode in, and so kept the greater part of her clothes dry in crossing. Not a man of us made a jest, or even grinned, so natural was her action in the circumstances. I have often used this instance to show that what the world calls modesty is a matter of time and place, and I now hold that too much modesty is out of time and place when a man who has had more than a fair share of remarkable experiences undertakes a true relation of the extraordinary adventures that have befallen him. So, if the narrative on which I am setting out be marred by any affectation, it will not be the affectation of modesty.