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ROMANCE AND REALITY.
281

in the East and astonished all Paris (the city he selected for his début in celebrity) by eloquent details of the delights of dwelling in goatskin tents, and galloping through the desert. Les merveilleuses were somewhat startled at the taste which pronounced sheep's milk and dates the perfection of luxury, but every fair head in the Chassée de Saint Antin was completely turned. To a gentleman of this habit of mind, une grande passion was indispensable, and he laid his heart and homage at the fairy-like feet of Madame de St. Leu.

"But your very vain lover is a little fatiguing for every-day wear, and the lady permitted herself a slight preference in favour of the Baron von Schmanherstoff, an Hungarian nobleman, whose furred pelisse, and silver spurs had produced quite a sensation. Indignant at what he termed her treachery, the Hungarian went to his friend and told him all. Colonel Clarendon rushed to the presence of his faithless mistress, and overwhelmed himself with despair and her with reproaches. 'Are you a man,' said the lady, with an air between injured innocence and conscious dignity, 'that you tell me of this outrage before you have avenged it?—unless you are the basest coward