"
"You talk like a fool, Sally," cried the sapient waiter. "Don't you
see that his dress is military? Look at his black cap, with its long
bag and great feather, and the monstrous sword at his side; look at
them, and then if you can, say I am mistaken in deciding that he is
some great Russian commander,--most likely come over as ambassador!"
"But he came in a hackney-coach," cried a little dirty boy in the
corner. "As I was running up stairs with Colonel Leson's shoes, I
see'd the coachman bring in his portmanteau." "Well, Jack-a-napes,
what of that?" cried Jenkins; "is a nobleman always to carry his
equipage about him, like a snail with its shell on its back? To be
sure, this foreign lord, or prince, is only come to stay here till
his own house is fit for him. I will be civil to him."
"And so will I, Jenkins," rejoined Sally, smiling; "for I never see'd
such handsome blue eyes in my born days; and they turned so sweet on
me, and he spoke so kindly when he bade me stir the fire; and when he
sat down by it, and throwed off his great fur cloak, I see'd a
glittering star on his breast, and a figure so noble, that indeed,
cook, I do verily believe he is, as Jenkins says, an enthroned king!"
"You and Jenkins be a pair of fools," cried the cook, who, without
noticing their description, had been sulkily basting the fowl. "I
will be sworn he's just such another king as that palavering rogue
was a French duke who got my master's watch and pawned it! As for
you, Sally, you had better beware of hunting after foreign men-folk:
it's not seemly for a young woman, and you may chance to rue it.
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