"I do not
know you by sight."

"No," Ralph said; "we are from Holzhausen, a village some eight
miles upon the other side of Wiesbaden."

"Ah!" the woman said, "I have a sister living there; surely you
must know her. She is the wife of Klopstock, the carpenter."

"Surely," Ralph said, "she is my neighbor; everyone knows her. She
is very like you."

"Well now, you are the first person who has ever said that," the
woman said, surprised. "I am so short, and she is so tall."

"Yes, she is tall--very tall," Ralph said, very gravely; "but there
is something about the expression of your eyes which reminds me of
Mrs. Klopstock.

"Yes, the more I look at you, the more I see it," and Ralph looked
so earnestly, at the woman, that Percy had the greatest difficulty
in preventing himself going off into a shout of laughter.

"I wonder I have never seen you, at Holzhausen," Ralph continued.

"Well," the woman said, "it is years since I have been there. You
see, it is a long way, and my sister often comes into Wiesbaden,
and I see her; but in truth, her husband and I don't get on very
well together. You know his temper is--" and she lifted up her
hands.

"Yes, indeed," Ralph said. "His temper is, as you say, terrible.
Between ourselves, it is so well known that we have a saying, 'As
bad tempered as Klopstock the carpenter.' One can't say more than
that--

"But we are at Wiesbaden. Good morning."

"Good morning. I hope your uncle's tooth will be better, ere long."

"I hope so, indeed, for all our sakes," Ralph said. "He is as bad
as Klopstock, at present."

So saying, they got out of the train and walked into the town. When
they had separated from the crowd, Percy could restrain himself no
longer, and went off into a scream of laughter.

"What is it, Mister Percy?" Tim asked, opening his lips for the
first time since they had left the house.

"Oh, Tim, if you had but heard!" Percy said, when he recovered his
voice. "Do you know you are as bad tempered as Klopstock, the
carpenter?"

"Sure, I never heard tell of him, Mister Percy; and if I have been
bad tempered, I haven't said much about it; and if the carpenter
had a wad of cotton as big as a cricket ball in one cheek, as I
have, it's small blame to him if he was out of temper."

Both the boys laughed, this time; and then Ralph explained the
whole matter to Tim, who laughed more heartily than either of them.

"Which way shall we go, Ralph?"

"I looked at the ma