_Sacre_! I trust not to have seen the last of so fair a vision as this Queen Naladi." He was twirling his moustache, such a look of complacency upon his features I could only stare at him in bewildered surprise.
"You appear reconciled to our situation with marvellous good grace," I managed to say at last, in a tone which made no attempt to conceal my disgust at his coxcombry.

"For myself I can see very little to hope for." "Tut, tut, man," stretching himself negligently into a posture of greater ease, "an old soldier learns to take things as they come, without complaint; to extract sweets from every flower.

Surely here is a rare rose we have uncovered blooming in the wilderness; nor am I blind to its beauty, or unmindful of my privileges.

Besides, lad, what is there greatly to worry about?
We are preserved, you tell me, from torture; food will undoubtedly be supplied in plenty, while the lady is surely fair enough to promise pleasant companionship in exile--provided I ever learn to have private speech with her.

What was the tongue ?" "We conversed in Spanish." "I thought as much; there were certain familiar words.