d the salt in great leaden
receptacles, like big ink-bottles; a very ancient brass lamp giving
its dim radiance over all. It was wearisome to sit down on the
straight-backed wooden chairs, and not less irksome to walk on the
gritty, sanded floor, and so I lounged in one of the windows, and
watched the rain. As I looked, I saw the figure of a man with a
fishing-basket and rod on his shoulder approaching the house. I guessed
at once it was our stranger, and, opening the window a few inches, I
listened to hear the dialogue between him and Francois. The window was
enclosed in the same porch as the door, so that I could hear a good deal
of what passed. Francois accosted him familiarly, questioned him as to
his sport, and the size of the fish he had taken. I could not hear the
reply, but I remarked that the stranger emptied his basket, and was
despatching the contents in different directions: some were for the
cure, and some for the postmaster, some for the brigadier of the
gendarmerie, and one large trout for the miller's daughter.

"A good-looking wench, I'll be sworn," said Francois, as he heard the
message delivered.

Again the stranger said something, and I thought, from the tone,
angrily, and Francois responded; and then I saw them walk apart for
a few seconds, during which Francois seemed to have all the talk to
himself,--a good omen, as it appeared to me, of success, and a sure
warranty that the treaty was signed. Francois, however, did not come to
report progress, and so I closed the window and sat down.

"So you have got company to-night, Master Ludwig," said the stranger,
as he entered, followed by the host, who speedily seemed to whisper that
one of the arrivals was then before him. The stranger bowed stiffly but
courteously to me, which I returned not less haughtily; and I now
saw that he was a man about thirty-five, but much freckled, with a
light-brown beard and moustache. On the whole, a good-looking fellow,
with a very upright carriage, and something of a cavalry soldier in the
swing of his gait.

"Would you like it at once, Herr Graf?" said the host, obsequiously.

"Oh, he 's a count, is he?" said I, with a sneer to myself. "These
countships go a short way with _me_."

"You had better consult your other guests; _I_ am ready when _they_
are," said the stranger.

Now, though the speech was polite and even considerate, I lost sight of
the courtesy in thinking that it implied we were about to sup in comm