ay a box of dominoes and a backgammon
board, eloquently suggestive of mine host's ideas as to the most
suitable occupation for his guests.

The hotel proprietors were as simple and homely as their house. The man
wore a seaman's cap and a blue coat with brass anchor buttons, and was
more than delighted if you took him for a seafaring man. He had, in
fact, been to sea once, as ship's cook, or steward, or something of the
sort. Now he sat most of the time in the cafe of the hotel, supplied
the neighbors with little drams of cognac, and told the visitors
endless stories of the buying and selling of property in the little
town. His wife was the soul of the establishment. She possessed the
gift of omnipresence. At one and the same moment you might see her in
the kitchen and in the outhouses, in the hotel and in the cafe. The
servants, of whom there was a considerable number, answered to a look,
a bock of her finger. You could hear her clear voice from morning till
night in the courtyard or on the stairs. Everywhere she lent a helping
hand, and her busy fingers accomplished as much as all the men and
maids put together. With it all she was never out of temper, always had
a word or a smile for every passer-by, took a personal interest in each
of her guests, took instant notice of a diminished appetite or a pale
cheek, and always sent up lime-flower tea to anybody who happened to
come rather later than usual to breakfast.

The hotel was pretty full when Wilhelm arrived, but he made no attempt
to mix with the company he met twice a day at the table d'hote. His
French had grown somewhat rusty for want of practice, and he did not
trust himself to join in the exceedingly lively and general
conversation till he had regained something of his old fluency in long
daily talks with the landlord. Beside which, he did not feel greatly
drawn toward his fellowguests. Their high-sounding and
pompously-expressed platitudes bored him, their absurd views on
politics, their parrot-like and yet self-satisfied remarks on
literature and art filled him with compassion. One guest in particular,
who sat at the head of the table, and generally led the conversation in
the loudest tones, succeeded in making him very impatient, in spite of
the mildness with which Wilhelm usually judged his fellows. He did
business in sewing machines in Paris, but here gave himself out as an
"ingenieur constructeur," and belonged to that class of persons who
cannot endure