COURT OF PRAGUE. 



decked her head, and which already exceeded several dozens, that 

 seemed to say, " Am I then eternally doomed to sow without the 

 prospect of reaping for Love, of all the gods of high Olympus, is 

 certainly the most selfish." If the love-sick serjeant hazarded but the 

 slightest gesture even and every other kind of dialogue, ignorant 

 as he was of the language of his belle was out of the question - Mloda 

 would immediately punish his temerity with two or three well 

 applied blows from her pretty hands, that increased in force as the 

 number of spectators was greater. It was in vain that her besieger 

 strove over and over again to lead her into a corner of one of 

 those cellars where in Illyria they sell wine and pannochie.* All 

 his amorous advances were treated with rebuffs and blows. 



At last (for every thing has an end, even the cruelty of a young 

 savage girl) Mloda relaxed a little her correctional system, and con- 

 sented to partake of a bowl of rough red wine and a slice of coarse 

 soldiers' bread, well rubbed over with garlic. A few days after this 

 common repast, the serjeant discovered that Mloda was completelv 

 her own mistress, and possessed not even the shadow of a relation 

 who could control her actions. He, therefore, skilfully redoubled 

 his delicate attentions, and even sold some part of his apparel in 

 order to procure some of the small pieces of money on which she so 

 doated. Mloda at last proved grateful, and very soon she had no 

 longer any thing to refuse her admirer, not even the favour so long 

 solicited of washing her face and hands. In fact, she became the pro- 

 perty of the happy serjeant, who placed her publicly at the head of 

 his " menage." From this moment it is that the lofty destinies of 

 Mloda may be dated. 



The serjeant one day, however, took it into his head that it was 

 extremely ridiculous for a defender of the state like himself to 

 divide into two portions the ration which the government issued only 

 for one. To be brief, hunger made war on love, and as the latter 

 was soon worsted in the struggle. 



The sub-lieutenant of the company, just fresh from the benches of 

 the military school, informed, by public report, of the astonishing 

 progress that the Morlakian was making in the French language, 

 conceived the very philantrophic idea of completing her education. 

 He, therefore, proposed to her lover to confide her to his care, for 

 the purpose of superintending her studies. The serjeant consented, 

 on condition of receiving a handsome fowling-piece, that belonged to 

 his superior officer : the bargain was struck, and his mistress, in 

 consequence, passed over to the young lieutenant. Mloda, on her side, 

 appeared delighted with the arrangement. She had become, ambi- 

 tious, and was conscious that she was advancing in rank. The detach- 

 ment was recalled to Moscarra, the head-quarters of the regiment. 



In the meantime Mloda, whom, as we have said, the loftiest desti- 

 nies awaited, had grown in grace and beauty, nay, even in talent, for 

 she had acquired a knowledge of a host of things of which she had 

 been previously ignorant. There is some obscurity in the affairs of 

 our fair friend about this time ; but we find her, after a short lapse 



* A species of white bread without leaven. 

 M.M, No. 97. O 



