about her,
even the Frau Doktor, presumably examining a timetable, as near to the
august skirts as possible.

"But where is my maid?" asked the Baroness.

"There was no maid," replied the manager, "save for your gracious sister
and daughter."

"Sister!" she cried sharply. "Fool, I have no sister. My child travelled
with the daughter of my dressmaker."

Tableau grandissimo!

4. FRAU FISCHER.

Frau Fischer was the fortunate possessor of a candle factory somewhere
on the banks of the Eger, and once a year she ceased from her labours
to make a "cure" in Dorschausen, arriving with a dress-basket neatly
covered in a black tarpaulin and a hand-bag. The latter contained
amongst her handkerchiefs, eau de Cologne, toothpicks, and a certain
woollen muffler very comforting to the "magen," samples of her skill
in candle-making, to be offered up as tokens of thanksgiving when her
holiday time was over.

Four of the clock one July afternoon she appeared at the Pension
Muller. I was sitting in the arbour and watched her bustling up the path
followed by the red-bearded porter with her dress-basket in his arms and
a sunflower between his teeth. The widow and her five innocent daughters
stood tastefully grouped upon the steps in appropriate attitudes
of welcome; and the greetings were so long and loud that I felt a
sympathetic glow.

"What a journey!" cried the Frau Fischer. "And nothing to eat in the
train--nothing solid. I assure you the sides of my stomach are flapping
together. But I must not spoil my appetite for dinner--just a cup of
coffee in my room. Bertha," turning to the youngest of the five, "how
changed! What a bust! Frau Hartmann, I congratulate you."

Once again the Widow seized Frau Fischer's hands. "Kathi, too, a
splendid woman; but a little pale. Perhaps the young man from Nurnberg
is here again this year. How you keep them all I don't know. Each year I
come expecting to find you with an empty nest. It's surprising."

Frau Hartmann, in an ashamed, apologetic voice: "We are such a happy
family since my dear man died."

"But these marriages--one must have courage; and after all, give them
time, they all make the happy family bigger--thank God for that... Are
there many people here just now?"

"Every room engaged."

Followed a detailed description in the hall, murmured on the stairs,
continued in six parts as they entered the large room (windows opening
upon the garden) which Frau Fischer occupied ea