ll the pleasures of the table, women, and gaming.
However, I was very moderate, and managed to increase my savings in a
small degree, contenting myself with modest wagers.

From Magdeburg I went straight to Berlin, without caring to stop at
Potsdam, as the king was not there. The fearful Prussian roads with their
sandy soil made me take three days to do eighteen Prussian miles. Prussia
is a country of which much could be made with labour and capital, but I
do not think it will ever become a really fine country.

I put up at the "Hotel de Paris," which was both comfortable and
economical. Madame Rufin who kept it had entered into the spirit of her
business without losing her French politeness, and thus the inn had got a
reputation. As soon as I was in my room she came to ask me if I were
satisfied, and to make divers arrangements for my comfort. There was a
table d'hote, and those who ate in their private rooms paid double.

"This arrangement," I said, "may suit you, but for the present it will
not suit me. I want to dine in my own room, but I don't want to pay
double; I will therefore pay as if I were in the public room, but if you
like you need only send me up half the number of dishes."

"I agree, on the condition that you sup with me; we will not put it in
the accounts, and you will only meet friends at my little suppers."

I thought her proposal so curious a one that I had a great inclination to
laugh, but finding it at the same time very advantageous I accepted
frankly, and as if we had long been friends.

On the first day I was tired, and did not sup with her till the day
following. Madame Rufin had a husband who attended to the cooking, and a
son, but neither of them came to these suppers. The first time I went to
one of them I met an elderly but agreeable and sensible gentleman. He
lodged in a room adjoining mine, and called himself Baron Treidel; his
sister had married the Duke of Courland, Jean Ernest Biron, or Birlen.
The baron, who was extremely pleasant, became my friend, and remained so
for the couple of months I spent in Berlin. I also met a Hamburg
merchant, named Greve, and his wife, whom he had just married and had
brought to Berlin that she might see the marvels of the Warrior-King's
Court. She was as pleasant as her husband, and I paid her an assiduous
court. A lively and high-spirited individual called Noel, who was the
sole and beloved cook of his Prussian Majesty, was the fourth person. He
on