a bashful boy, he suddenly exclaimed, counted out the change, and
poured it into our hands with so many apologies, that we were glad to
retreat.

It was a discouraging beginning for the new day. Still we would not
despair. We had assured our anxious friends that we were quite able to
take care of ourselves. We would triumphantly prove our own words.
Breakfast over, and our bill settled without mishap or misunderstanding,
we started for the station in the hotel omnibus, in company with a
stout, genial Frenchman, who spoke a little English, and his fussy
little wife. When we entered the station, the line formed before the
ticket-window was already formidable. It lacked fifteen minutes of the
hour when the train would start, and our baggage was--where? We seized a
_commissionaire_, slipped a piece of money into his hand in a very
bungling, shamefaced way, and, presto! in a moment our trunks appeared
among the other baggage, though we had looked in vain for them before.
Then, with a sensation of self-consciousness approaching guilt, I
stepped to the foot of the line before the ticket-window.

"Two tickets for Paris," I gasped, finding myself, after a time, brought
face to face with the sharp-eyed official. "What is the price?" But
before I could utter the words, the reply rattled through my head like a
discharge of grape-shot. Every finger resolved itself into ten, as I
essayed to open my purse and count out the gold pieces. What should I
do! I had not enough into ten francs; it might as well have been ten
thousand! Mrs. K. was waiting at a little distance; but the place once
lost in the line could not be regained, and there was our baggage yet to
be weighed, and the hands of the clock frightfully near the hour of
departure. There was an impatient stamping of feet behind me, as I stood
for a moment dizzy, bewildered, with an angry buzz of voices ringing
with the din and roar in my ears. Then I rushed down the room to Mrs.
K., and explained as hastily as possible. She filled my purse, and I
flew back to find the line pushed forward and my place gone. One glance
at the hands of the clock, at the discouraging line of ticket-seekers
yet to be served,--how could I go to the foot again! Then I walked
straight to the window with the courage of despair. A low growl ran down
the line, the _gendarme_ on guard stepped forward, expostulating
excitedly; but, blessings on the man at the head of the line, who pushed
the others back, and