door of the Remise, whilst she walk'd musing on one side.
IN THE STREET. CALAIS.

Having, on the first sight of the lady, settled the affair in my
fancy "that she was of the better order of beings;" - and then laid

it down as a second axiom, as indisputable as the first, that she
was a widow, and wore a character of distress, - I went no further;

I got ground enough for the situation which pleased me; - and had
she remained close beside my elbow till midnight, I should have

held true to my system, and considered her only under that general
idea.

She had scarce got twenty paces distant from me, ere something
within me called out for a more particular enquiry; - it brought on

the idea of a further separation: - I might possibly never see her
more: - The heart is for saving what it can; and I wanted the

traces through which my wishes might find their way to her, in case
I should never rejoin her myself; in a word, I wished to know her

name, - her family's - her condition; and as I knew the place to
which she was going, I wanted to know from whence she came: but

there was no coming at all this intelligence; a hundred little
delicacies stood in the way. I form'd a score different plans. -

There was no such thing as a man's asking her directly; - the thing
was impossible.

A little French debonnaire captain, who came dancing down the
street, showed me it was the easiest thing in the world: for,

popping in betwixt us, just as the lady was returning back to the
door of the Remise, he introduced himself to my acquaintance, and

before he had well got announced, begg'd I would do him the honour
to present him to the lady. - I had not been presented myself; - so

turning about to her, he did it just as well, by asking her if she
had come from Paris? No: she was going that route, she said. -

Vous n'etes pas de Londres? - She was not, she replied. - Then
Madame must have come through Flanders. - Apparemment vous etes

Flammande? said the French captain. - The lady answered, she was. -
Peut etre de Lisle? added he. - She said, she was not of Lisle. -

Nor Arras? - nor Cambray? - nor Ghent? - nor Brussels? - She
answered, she was of Brussels.

He had had the honour, he said, to be at the bombardment of it last
war; - that it was finelysituated, pour cela, - and full of

noblesse when the Imperialists were driven out by the French (the
lady made a slight courtesy) - so giving her an account of the

affair, and of the share he had had in it, - he begg'd the honour
to know her name, - so made his bow.

- Et Madame a son Mari? - said he, looking back when he had made
two steps, - and, without staying for an answer - danced down the

street.
Had I served seven years apprenticeship to good breeding, I could

not have done as much.
THE REMISE. CALAIS.

As the little French captain left us, Mons. Dessein came up with
the key of the Remise in his hand, and forthwith let us into his

magazine of chaises.
The first object which caught my eye, as Mons. Dessein open'd the

door of the Remise, was another old tatter'd desobligeant; and
notwithstanding it was the exact picture of that which had hit my

fancy so much in the coach-yard but an hour before, - the very
sight of it stirr'd up a disagreeablesensation within me now; and

I thought 'twas a churlish beast into whose heart the idea could
first enter, to construct such a machine; nor had I much more

charity for the man who could think of using it.
I observed the lady was as little taken with it as myself: so Mons.

Dessein led us on to a couple of chaises which stood abreast,
telling us, as he recommended them, that they had been purchased by

my lord A. and B. to go the grand tour, but had gone no further
than Paris, so were in all respects as good as new. - They were too

good; - so I pass'd on to a third, which stood behind, and
forthwith begun to chaffer for the price. - But 'twill scarce hold

two, said I, opening the door and getting in. - Have the goodness,
Madame, said Mons. Dessein, offering his arm, to step in. - The

lady hesitated half a second, and stepped in; and the waiter that
moment beckoning to speak to Mon. Dessein, he shut the door of the

chaise upon us, and left us.
THE REMISE. CALAIS.

C'est bien comique, 'tis very droll, said the lady, smiling, from
the reflection that this was the second time we a had been left

together by a parcel of nonsensical contingencies, - c'est bien
comique, said she. -

- There wants nothing, said I, to make it so but the comic use
which the gallantry of a Frenchman would put it to, - to make love

the first moment, and an offer of his person the second.
'Tis their fort, replied the lady.

It is supposed so at least; - and how it has come to pass,
continued I, I know not; but they have certainly got the credit of

understanding more of love, and making it better than any other
nation upon earth; but, for my own part, I think them arrant

bunglers, and in truth the worst set of marksmen that ever tried
Cupid's patience.

- To think of making love by sentiments!
I should as soon think of making a genteel suit of clothes out of

remnants: - and to do it - pop - at first sight, by declaration -
is submitting the offer, and themselves with it, to be sifted with

all their pours and contres, by an unheated mind.
The lady attended as if she expected I should go on.

Consider then, Madame, continued I, laying my hand upon hers:-
That grave people hate love for the name's sake; -

That selfish people hate it for their own; -
Hypocrites for heaven's; -

And that all of us, both old and young, being ten times worse
frightened than hurt by the very REPORT, - what a want of knowledge

in this branch of commence a man betrays, whoever lets the word
come out of his lips, till an hour or two, at least, after the time

that his silence upon it becomes tormenting. A course of small,
quiet attentions, not so pointed as to alarm, - nor so vague as to

be misunderstood - with now and then a look of kindness, and little
or nothing said upon it, - leaves nature for your mistress, and she

fashions it to her mind. -
Then I solemnly declare, said the lady, blushing, you have been

making love to me all this while.
THE REMISE. CALAIS.

Monsieur Dessein came back to let us out of the chaise, and
acquaint the lady, the count de L-, her brother, was just arrived

at the hotel. Though I had infinite good will for the lady, I
cannot say that I rejoiced in my heart at the event - and could not

help telling her so; - for it is fatal to a proposal, Madame, said
I, that I was going to make to you -

- You need not tell me what the proposal was, said she, laying her
hand upon both mine, as she interrupted me. - A man my good Sir,

has seldom an offer of kindness to make to a woman, but she has a
presentiment of it some moments before. -

Nature arms her with it, said I, for immediate preservation. - But
I think, said she, looking in my face, I had no evil to apprehend,

-and, to deal frankly with you, had determined to accept it. - If I
had - (she stopped a moment) - I believe your good will would have

drawn a story from me, which would have made pity the only
dangerous thing in the journey.

In saying this, she suffered me to kiss her hand twice, and with a
look of sensibility mixed with concern, she got out of the chaise,