"Now, madam."

He took out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door of a carriage
which had not before been opened, and standing aside, he bowed to let
Mrs. Parkman pass.

Mrs. Parkman was delighted. There was nobody in the carriage, and so she
had her choice of the seats. She chose one next the window on the
farther side. Her husband took the seat opposite to her.

"Ah!" said she, with a tone of great satisfaction, "how nice this is!
And what a gentlemanly conductor! I never had the conductor treat me so
politely in my life."

Mrs. Parkman was put in excellent humor by this incident, and she said,
towards the end of the journey, that she should have had a delightful
ride if the country had not been so flat and uninteresting. To Mr.
George and Rollo, who sat at the other window, it appeared extremely
interesting, there was so much that was curious and novel to be seen.
The immense green fields, with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep
feeding every where, and separated from each other by straight and
narrow canals instead of fences; the boats passing to and fro, loaded
with produce; the little bridges built over these canals here and there,
for the foot paths, with the gates across them to keep the cattle from
going over; the long road ways raised upon dikes, and bordered by
quadruple rows of ancient and venerable trees, stretching to a boundless
distance across the plains; and now and then a wide canal, with large
boats or vessels passing to and fro,--these and a multitude of other
such sights, to be seen in no other country in the world, occupied their
attention all the time, and kept them constantly amused.

At length the train arrived at the station for the Hague, and the whole
party descended from the carriage.

"Now, William," said Mr. George, "give me the ticket for your trunk,
and you yourself take Mrs. Parkman into the waiting room and wait till I
come."

"No," said Mr. Parkman, "I cannot let you take that trouble."

"Certainly," said Mr. George. "You said that I should have the entire
command. Give me the ticket."

So Mr. Parkman gave him the ticket, and Mr. George went out. Rollo
remained with Mr. and Mrs. Parkman. In a few minutes Mr. George
returned, and said that the carriage was ready. They all went to the
door, and there they found a carriage waiting, with Mr. and Mrs.
Parkman's trunk upon the top of it. A man was holding the door open for
the party to get in. As soon as they had all ente