58 AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR. 



lamp in hand, stalked along the lobbies, unchained 

 and unlocked the oak which our faithful night- 

 porter Somnus had sported and, lo ! a figure 

 muffled up in a cloak, and furred like a Kuss, 

 advanced familiarly into the hall, extended botl] 

 hands, bade God bless us, and pronounced, with 

 somewhat of a foreign accent, the name in which 

 we and the world rejoiced ' Christopher North !' 

 We were not slow in returning the hug fraternal, 

 for who was it but the ' American woodsman ?' 

 even Audubon himself, fresh from the Floridas, 

 and breathing of the pure air of far-off Labrador 1 



" Three years and upwards had fled since we had 

 taken farewell of the illustrious ornithologist, on 

 the same spot, at the same hour ; and there was 

 something ghost-like in such return of a dear friend 

 from a distant region almost as from the land of 

 spirits. ... In less time than we have taken 

 to write it we two were sitting cheek by jowl, and 

 hand in hand, by that essential fire while we 

 si lowed by our looks that we both felt, now they 

 were over, that three years are but as one day !" 



The rites of hospitality being -fitly observed, the 

 friends scanned each other's appearance, and " Au- 

 dubon found an opportunity of telling us that ho 

 had never seen us in a higher state of preservation ; 

 and, in a low voice, whispered something about the 

 ' Eagle renewing his youth.' We acknowledged 



