hope you have made me miserable enough _now_."

And with this the window was banged to, and away we went.

CHAPTER XXV. I MAINTAIN A DIGNIFIED RESERVE.

I was so hurt by the last words of Miss Herbert to me, that I maintained
throughout the entire day what I meant to be a "dignified reserve," but
what I half suspect bore stronger resemblance to a deep sulk. My station
had its privileges, and I resolved to take the benefit of them. I
dined alone. Yes, on that day I did fall back upon the eminence of
my condition, and proudly intimated that I desired solitude. I was
delighted to see the dismay this declaration caused. Old Mrs. Keats was
speechless with terror. I was looking at her through a chink in the door
when Miss Herbert gave my message, and I thought she would have fainted.

"What were his precise words? Give them to me exactly as he uttered
them," said she, tremulously, "for there are persons whose intimations
are half commands."

"I can scarcely repeat them, madam," said the other, "but their purport
was, that we were not to expect him at dinner, that he had ordered it to
be served in his own room and at his own hour."

"And this is very probably all your doing," said the old lady, with
indignation. "Unaccustomed to any levity of behavior, brought up in a
rank where familiarities are never practised, he has been shocked by
your conduct with that stranger. Yes, Miss Herbert, I say shocked,
because, however harmless in intention, such freedoms are utterly
unknown in--in certain circles."

"I am sure, madam," replied she, with a certain amount of spirit,
"that you are laboring under a very grave misapprehension. There was no
familiarity, no freedom. We talked as I imagine people usually talk when
they sit at the same table. Mr.--I scarcely know his name--"

"Nor is it necessary," said the old woman, tartly; "though, if you had,
probably this unfortunate incident might not have occurred. Sit down
there, however, and write a few lines in my name, hoping that his
indisposition may be very slight, and begging to know if he desire to
remain here to-morrow and take some repose."

I waited till I saw Miss Herbert open her writing-desk, and then I
hastened off to my room to reflect over my answer to her note. Now that
the suggestion was made to me, I was pleased with the notion of passing
an entire day where we were. The place was Schaffhausen,--the famous
fall of the Rhine,--not very much as a cataract, but