ourt-yard, others in the
street packing for departure, a throng of greedy _lohn-kutschers_, warm
waiters, and bearded couriers, hanging about the door, and running up
and down stairs. I entered the public room. It was past noon, and the
tables were laid for dinner, but there were only two persons in the
apartment, a gentleman and a lady. They stood at a window, outside of
which a handsome Vienna-made berline, with a count's coronet on the
panels, was getting ready for a journey. As I walked up the room, the
lady turned her head, and I was instantly struck by her resemblance to
Emilie Sendel. So strong was it that I for a moment thought I had fallen
in with the very persons I wished to avoid. A second glance convinced me
of error. The likeness was certainly startling, but there were many
points of difference. Age and stature were the same, so were the hair
and complexion, save that the former was less ruddy, the latter paler
than in the case of the buxom Emilie. And there were grace and
refinement about this person, far beyond any to which the Dutchman's
lady-love could pretend. The expression of the interesting features was
rather pensive than gay, and there was something classical in the arch
of the eyebrow and outline of the face. The lady was plainly but richly
attired in an elegant travelling dress, and had her hand upon the arm of
a tall and very handsome man, about forty years of age, of singularly
aristocratic but somewhat dissipated appearance. They were talking as I
entered, and a sentence or two of their conversation reached my ear.
They spoke French, with a scarcely perceptible foreign accent.

Curious to know who these persons were, I returned to the court of the
hotel, intending to question a waiter. It was first necessary to catch
one, not easy at that busy time of day; and after several fruitless
efforts to detain the jacketed gentry, I gave the attempt, and took my
station at the gateway. Scarcely had I done so, when a carriage drove up
at a rattling pace, a small spit of a boy in a smart green suit, and
with an ambiguous sort of coronet embroidered in silver on the front of
his cap, jumped off and opened the door, and there emerged from the
vehicle, to my infinite dismay, the inevitable Van Haubitz. Retreat was
impossible, for he saw me directly; and after handing out Madame Sendel
and her daughter, seized me vehemently by both hands.

"Delighted to see you!" he cried; "I wish you had been a day sooner.