By-and-by a gentle tap was heard at the door, and, in reply to Charles's summons to come in, Patty Whinchat entered, carrying with much care a fine linen shirt with laced ruffles, and a laced band of snowy whiteness placed upon it. Curtseying to the king, she tripped into the inner room and deposited the linen on the bed.

Her errand performed, Patty returned, and dropping another curtsey to the king, observed,

"Captain Clavering bade me say, sir, that if you have occasion for any change of apparel, you will find all you require in the wardrobe."

"Captain Clavering is very obliging," replied Charles, glancing admiringly at her. "How art thou called, child, and what office dost fill in the house?"

"I am named Patty Whinchat, an please you, sir," she replied; "and am handmaiden to Mistress Dulcia Beard."

"Oddsfish, Patty!" exclaimed the king, "thy good looks rival those of thy mistress. Ye are both so pretty, that if I were asked which to take I should be fairly perplexed in the choice."

"But you are not asked to take either of us, sir," Patty rejoined. "My mistress has got a lover, and I—-”

"More than one, I'll be sworn!" interrupted the king, "or the serving-men have no taste. However, there'll be no great harm in robbing your favoured and fortunate swain, whoever he may be, of a kiss" suiting the action to the word. "You have plenty to spare, both for him and me."

"You are mistaken, sir," replied Patty; "I shouldn't have half enow for Ninian Saxby, if I let him take as many as he wants. But don't detain me, sir, I pray of you. I mustn't stay here another minute. I'm wanted down stairs. Somebody is below, I'm told," she added, mysteriously, "and I'm dying to have a peep at him." "And who may this 'somebody' be whom thou art so curious to behold, child?" inquired Charles.

"The servants will have it the king is here," rejoined Patty; "but they've said the same thing so often before that I don't exactly believe them."

"What sort of person is the king, child?" said Charles. "Should you know him if you beheld him?"

"Know him!" exclaimed Patty. "To be sure! the very instant I clapped eyes upon him."

"But what is he like? Remarkably handsome, eh?"

"Handsome! quite the contrary! He's remarkably plainharsh features, and very dark. Mercy on us! if it should"Why, what's the matter, child?""

"If it should be the king whom I've been talking to all the time!" she exclaimed, trembling.

"If it were the king, I'll answer for it he would be the last

person to be offended with so pretty a lass as thyself," said Charles, reassuring her with another kiss. "But hie thee down stairs, and thou mayst possibly find out some one who will better answer to thy notions of what a monarch ought to be than myself."

Patty then curtseyed and moved towards the door, but she could not help casting another look at the king ere she quitted the room, exclaiming,

"Oh, if it should be his Majesty, I shall never get over it!"

Much diverted by the incident, Charles went into the inner room, and before proceeding to disrobe himself, placed his rapier and the brace of pocket-pistols, which he usually carried with him, on a table set near the arras curtain hung between the two rooms. His ablutions performed, he next exchanged his travelsoiled under-garments for the fair linen provided by Patty, humming the while some snatches of a then popular French romance.

"Egad!" he exclaimed, taking up the doublet he had just laid aside, "this is a very comfortable old house, and I should have been quite as well lodged here as at Trent-and well cared for, moreover, by the pretty little Phillis who has just left me. For many reasons I am glad I came here, though Wilmot would fain have dissuaded me from doing so on the score of danger! Pshaw! no danger is to be apprehended-at all events, not to-day-and to-morrow his enemies will look in vain for Charles Stuart. Hang these Puritanical garments," he added, throwing down the jerkin in disgust, "I abominate them. Let us see what this wardrobe contains. A doublet of Clavering's might suit me." With this he opened the door of the wardrobe, and taking out a handsome suit of black taffeta, exclaimed, "Oddsfish! these are the very things."

With this, he proceeded to array himself in the new-found apparel, which fitted him to admiration, and was adjusting his laced band before a mirror set in a frame of black oak, when the arras curtain was suddenly drawn aside, and two men, whose appearance and looks left him no doubt of their intentions, stepped from behind it.

MARSHAL O'DONNELL.

ALTHOUGH the recent events in Morocco have given a transitory lustre to the name of O'Donnell, historical justice demands that the means by which he attained to power should not be overlooked, for they may serve to throw some light on the tortuous policy which produced a war so intangible in its results, and which must have possessed some hidden motive beyond a mere desire on the part of the commander-in-chief to rival the exploits of the Cid.

Regarded as an adventurer, O'Donnell holds no satisfactory place in the political records of his adopted country; for he is nothing but a thoughtless and unprincipled soldier, possessing no convictions, and not even obeying discipline. He wields a sword, not like the Cid, for justice and honour, for the faith and renown of his country, but only for himself and his own profit. He is neither a Cromwell nor a Monk; neither a Guelph nor a Ghibelline; he is a mere amphibious animal without settled principles. O'Donnell is a condottiere with a changing war-cry-to-day for a cause, to-morrow against it. He has deceived every party. He broke his oath and faith to throne as to people, and was a traitor to both -traitor according to the most opposing views and ideas, so that he could find no code or tribunal to acquit him.

When Queen Isabella summoned him to the palace on October 12, 1856, he addressed to her the following words, in which is contained a grave self-accusation: "Señora, reflect on the road you are on the point of entering upon, for it leads to absolutism, and from that to revolution. I do not speak for myself, as I hold everything a man can desire. I am rich, I am a count, I have gained the highest rank in the military hierarchy; but I speak for you, in your interest. History will be just, and concede that I have recently been working on behalf of the throne. Do you believe, señora, that in a moment of difficulty you would find friends like those of whom the present cabinet is composed?" The queen might have answered, that though O'Donnell possessed so much authority, he would never be satisfied till he had torn the sceptre from her. He had proved this twice; once against her, and the second time when he revolted against the Cortes, leaving out of sight 1841 and the events at Pampeluna. He it was who taught the queen that, to reign, she must not shrink from a revolution. Isabella, however, did not answer so openly, but, while thanking him for past services, insisted on his resignation.

A three months' lease of power was all that O'Donnell gained by his coup de main. But everything he has done, since he attained influence and power, has been calculated from one day to the other, without any statesmanlike combination. The best thing in his life is a purely military career, in which he has certainly given proofs of decision, though his reward has been far beyond his merits, and only cosas d'España could raise such a man so high.

Leopold O'Donnell was born at Santa Cruz de Teneriffe, on January 12, 1809. He is the descendant of an Irish military family, which fled through its adhesion to the Stuarts, and found a refuge in Spain. His

father was lieutenant-general, his grandfather brigadier-general, of the Irish regiment formed in Spain of the exiles from that country. At the age of ten, by the special favour of King Ferdinand VII., our hero was appointed lieutenant of the infantry regiment Imperial Alejandro. In 1820, accompanied by his mother, he set out to attach himself to the cause of absolutism, but was taken prisoner and carried to Peñafiel. On the 14th of April, 1823, when the French invasion took place, he offered his services to the royalist leaders at Burgos, was present at the siege of Ciudad Rodrigo, and was appointed lieutenant by election in the following month. After the contest had been ended by the intervention of the French, O'Donnell joined the third regiment of the Royal Guard; in 1828 he was promoted to a captaincy, and held this grade till 1832. This is all that is known of his youth, and, though no one can blame him for yielding to the influences of his parents, these facts show the school in which he was educated. He fought by the side of strangers against his fatherland and its liberal tendencies, and gained his spurs in a civil war.

In 1833, the young Hercules stood at the cross-roads: in the war that broke out between the partisans of Don Carlos and Isabella, he had to choose that side which offered the best prospect of success. His whole family, even his brothers, were Carlists; but Leopold thought it better to join a government already established, which disposed of organised resources, and had many friends throughout the country, while the other party needed talented chiefs, such as Zumala-Carreguy and Cabrera, before it could send a regular force into the field. The choice does all honour to the young man's sharp-sightedness. Don Leopold was with his regiment at Barcelona, when the news of Ferdinand VII.'s death spread through the Peninsula, and with it that of the revolt at Morella. This was the signal for the civil war, which lasted seven years, with alternating success, until Espartero ended it in 1840 by the treaty of Bergara.

During the first year of hostilities there was nothing for O'Donnell to do, for the Carlists, on the approach of the royal troops, evacuated Morella without striking a blow. The next year matters took a change. Early in February a brigade was formed under General Linares to put down the Carlists, who were again becoming troublesome. O'Donnell, with one hundred and eighty grenadiers of the Guard was attached to this brigade, which was intended to protect the towns of Aragon against the Navarrese insurgents under Zumala-Carreguy. On the 24th of April three battalions of Carlists came in contact with this brigade. O'Donnell was ordered to attack them with his grenadiers, supported by twenty-five cavalry, and did so with such decision and success that he was promoted to a colonelcy. Spanish civil wars advance their partisans, and colonels of twenty-five years are quite common, though this exceptional promotion is not always the result of remarkable ability.

On the 25th of May, O'Donnell again distinguished himself at the Hermitage, and received as reward the Order of St. Ferdinand. Owing to a wound he received in this action, O'Donnell was unable to take the field again till 1835; but in July of that year he took command of a battalion of the 4th Regiment. He was present at the relief of Bilbao, and at Mendigorria he was one of the first with his battalion to storm the heights held by the Carlists, for which he was promoted to a lieutenantcolonelcy-mayor. After various gallant actions, for which O'Donnell's

name was mentioned in general orders, the 4th Regiment was ordered to Madrid to guard the queen, whereupon O'Donnell was appointed to the command of a brigade.

From this moment our hero was enabled to act with greater independence. He received orders to execute, in which much was left to his own judgment, though he rose no higher in rank. We need not enter into details of all the actions in which he was engaged; that we will leave to his flatterers. At Galarreta he was again wounded, and rendered hors de combat for a year. For a long time he was at death's door, owing to a typhus fever that attacked him; but his powerful constitution pulled him through, and, hardly recovered, he joined head-quarters at San Sebastian. In May, 1837, O'Donnell once more assumed command of a brigade, and was present at Hernani. After the capture of Irun, in which he distinguished himself greatly, he received the Cross of Isabella the Catholic, by the recommendation of General de Lacy Evans, under whose command his brigade stood.

Then came the critical moment, which threatened to turn the civil war in favour of Don Carlos. The pretender advanced on the capital of the kingdom to unfurl his banner before its gates. The Carlists had been well disciplined by Cabrera, while a spirit of insubordination was gaining a head among the queen's troops. The dauntlessness with which Espartero opposed this is notorious, and he saved the cause for which he fought by suppressing the evil spirit. O'Donnell had also to oppose this worst of all foes to an army. On the night of July 16, a regular mutiny

broke out at Hernani, where O'Donnell was stationed. The battalions de la Princesa and del Infante refused obedience, and grossly ill-treated an adjutant. General Rendon, accompanied by O'Donnell, was preparing to call out the brigade and examine into the state of affairs, when the arrival of General Count Mirasol was announced to him. He therefore left the arrangement of the difficulty to O'Donnell, and went to receive the general. General Rendon, however, had scarce withdrawn, when tumultuous cries and firing showed that the troops quartered in the little town had also mutinied. O'Donnell went back at once to Hernani, and gave his adjutant orders to call out the two battalions of Gerona, on whom he believed he could trust. On entering the town he met Count Mirasol, who had only escaped death by a miracle, for his adjutant was shot by his side, and General Rendon dangerously wounded. The revolt was spreading; the troops had turned out their officers, seized all the most important houses and the streets leading to the plaza, and refused obedience. The enemies' advanced posts were only three miles from Hernani, and if they heard of the state of things they would advance at once. At this supreme moment O'Donnell formed a grand decision. He advanced unarmed to the mutineers, showed them the danger and atrocity of their conduct, and brought them back to their duty. In the mean while the Carlists had really advanced, and O'Donnell led the late mutineers against them. Count Mirasol estimated the young brigadier's conduct at its full value, and appointed him commandant of the forces assembled in this locality. On the 1st September he was promoted general and commander of the army of Cantabria, which General Jaureguy was compelled to resign through ill health. The occurrence at Hernani was not an isolated one; at Pampeluna, Miranda de Ebro,