the
cause still more true and more sad; for it was under the terrible
impression that Madame Panpan and her two children--for they were both
with us, you will remember, even little Henri--had not eaten of one
tolerable meal throughout a whole week, that these unpardonable acts were
committed on the Sunday. An omelette soufflee, you know, must he
ordered; but as for the dominoes, I admit that that was an indiscretion.

Pere Panpan drooped and drooped. The cord of his gymnasium swung
uselessly above his head; he tottered no more along the corridors of the
hospital. He had ceased to be the pet of the medical profession. His
malady was obstinate and impertinent; it could neither be explained nor
driven away; and as all the deep theories propounded respecting it, or
carried into practical operation for its removal, proved to be mere
elaborate fancies, or useless experiments, the medical
profession--happily for Panpan--retired from the field in disgust.

"I do believe it was the button!" exclaimed Panpan, one Sunday afternoon,
with a strange light gleaming in his eyes. Madame replied only with a
sob. "You have seen many of them?" he abruptly demanded of me.

"Of what?"

"Buttons."

"There are a great many of them made in England," I replied. Where were
we wandering?

Panpan took my hand in his, and, with a gentle pressure that went to my
very heart, exclaimed: "I do believe it was the brass button after all.
I hope to God it was not an English button!"

I can't say whether it was or not. But, as to poor Pere Panpan, we
buried him at Bicetre.

CHAPTER XXVII.

SOME GERMAN SUNDAYS.

Of how Sunday is really spent by the labouring classes in some towns in
Germany, I claim, as an English workman who has worked and played on
German ground, some right to speak. It is possible that I may relate
matters which some do not suspect, and concerning which others have
already made up their minds; but, as I shall tell nothing but truths, I
trust I may not very much disconcert the former, nor put the latter
completely out of patience; nor offend anybody.

To begin with Hamburg. I spent seven months in this free, commercial
port. I came into Hamburg on a Sunday morning; and, although everything
was new and strange to me, and a number of things passed before my eyes
which could never be seen in decorous London, yet there were unmistakable
signs of Sunday in them all--only it was not the Sunday to which I had
bee