nery
approached. For one mortal hour we were wedged in at that table, peering
between heads and under the awning which cut off every peak, making
frantic attempts to turn in our places, as parties across the table
exclaimed over the scenery behind us, and consoling ourselves with
reading up the legends in the guide-book held open by the rim of our
soup-plates,--of the Seven Sisters, for instance, who were turned into
seven stones which stand in the stream to this day, because they refused
to smile upon their lovers (fortunately for navigation, maidens in these
days are less obdurate); of the bishop who shut his starving peasants
into his barn and set fire to it, though his granaries were full, and
who, in poetic justice, was afterwards devoured by rats; of the Lurlei
siren, who lured men to destruction, and became historical from the
individuality of the case; of various maidens bereft of lovers by cruel
fathers, and of various lovers bereft of maidens by cruel fate, &c.,
while storied ruins crowned the crags on every hand, always half hidden
under a weight of ivy, and often indistinguishable from the rock on
which they seemed to have grown.

At Bingen, which is not especially "fair" from the river, the precipices
drop away, the stream spreads out in nearly twice its former width, and
is dotted with islands. At Mayence you may leave the steamer; the
beauties of the Rhine are passed.

From Mayence we made an excursion to Wiesbaden; then on to
Frankfort-on-the-Maine, to rest only a few hours, _doing_ the city
hastily and imperfectly; and finally reached Heidelberg at night, in
time for _table d'hote_. A talkative young Irishman sat beside us at the
table, who spoke five or six languages "with different degrees of
badness," he informed us; had travelled half the world over, but held in
reserve the pleasure of visiting America.

"I have a friend there," he added, "though he is in _South_ America."

"Ah?"

"Yes; at _Mobile_," he replied. "He held some office under government
for a number of years, but during your recent war--for some reason which
I do not understand--he seems to have lost it."

It did not seem so inexplicable to us.

Our conception of Heidelberg had been most imperfect. We knew simply
that it held a university and a ruin. The former did not especially
attract us, and we were sated with ruins. So, when we took possession of
our lovely room,--a charming _salon_, converted temporarily into a
bedroom,--