"This is very kind of you, my good girl," B. said, "but really I don't
think we _can_. I don't think we ought to. You must not go on doing
this sort of thing. We will drink this one now that you have brought it,
but we really must insist on its being the last."

After about the tenth time we expostulated still more strongly.

"Now, you know what I told you four quarts ago!" remarked B., severely.
"This can't go on for ever. Something serious will be happening. We are
not used to your German school of drinking. We are only foreigners. In
our own country we are considered rather swagger at this elbow-raising
business, and for the credit of old England we have done our best. But
now there must be an end to it. I simply decline to drink any more. No,
do not press me. Not even another gallon!"

"But you both sit there with both your mugs open," replies the girl in an
injured tone.

"What do you mean, 'we sit with our mugs open'?" asks B. "Can't we have
our mugs open if we like?"

"Ah, yes," she explains pathetically; "but then I think you want more
beer. Gentlemen always open their mugs when they want them filled with
beer."

We kept our mugs shut after that.

MONDAY, JUNE 9TH

A Long Chapter, but happily the Last.--The Pilgrims' Return.--A Deserted
Town.--Heidelberg.--The Common, or Bed, Sheet, Considered as a Towel.--B.
Grapples with a Continental Time Table.--An Untractable Train.--A Quick
Run.--Trains that Start from Nowhere.--Trains that Arrive at
Nowhere.--Trains that Don't Do Anything.--B. Goes Mad.--Railway
Travelling in Germany.--B. is Taken Prisoner.--His Fortitude.--Advantages
of Ignorance.--First Impressions of Germany and of the Germans.

We are at Ostend. Our pilgrimage has ended. We sail for Dover in three
hours' time. The wind seems rather fresh, but they say that it will drop
towards the evening. I hope they are not deceiving us.

We are disappointed with Ostend. We thought that Ostend would be gay and
crowded. We thought that there would be bands and theatres and concerts,
and busy table-d'hotes, and lively sands, and thronged parades, and
pretty girls at Ostend.

I bought a stick and a new pair of boots at Brussels on purpose for
Ostend.

There does not seem to be a living visitor in the place besides
ourselves--nor a dead one either, that we can find. The shops are shut
up, the houses are deserted, the casino is closed. Notice-boards are
exhibited outside the ho