he who has small claims
to interest by the events of his life, can make some compensation to
the world by an honest exposure of his motives, his weaknesses, and his
struggles. Now, my present confession is made in this spirit, and is not
absolutely without its moral, for, as the adage tells us, "Look after
the pence, and the pounds will take care of themselves;" so would I say,
Guard yourself carefully against petty vices. You and I, most esteemed
reader, are--I trust fervently--little likely to be arraigned on a
capital charge. I hope sincerely that transportable felonies, and even
misdemeanors, may not picture among the accidents of our life; such-like
are the pounds that take care of themselves, but the "small pence" which
require looking after, are little envies and jealousies and rancors,
petty snobberies of display, small exhibitions of our being better than
this man or greater than that; these, I repeat to you, accumulate on
a man's nature just the way barnacles fasten on a ship's bottom,--from
mere time, and it is wonderful what damage can come of such paltry
obstacles.

I very much doubt if a Roman conqueror regarded the chained captive who
followed his chariot with a more supreme pride than I bestowed upon that
miserable old waiter who now bowed himself to the ground before me,
and when I ordered my dinner for four o'clock, and said that probably I
might have a friend to dine with me, his humiliation was complete.

"I wish I knew the secret of your staying here," said Mary Crofton, as
we drove along; "why will you not tell it?"

"Perhaps it might prove indiscreet, Mary; our friend Potts may have
become a _mauvais sujet_ since we have seen him last?"

I wrapped myself in a mysterious silence, and only smiled.

"Lindau, of all places, to stop at!" resumed she, pettishly. "There is
nothing remarkable in the scenery, no art treasures, nothing socially
agreeable; what can it possibly be that detains you in such a place?"

"My dear Mary," said Crofton, "you are, without knowing it, violating a
hallowed principle; you are no less than leading into temptation. Look
at poor Potts there, and you will see that, while he knows in his
inmost heart the secret which detains him here is some passing and
insignificant circumstance unworthy of mention, you have, by imparting
to it a certain importance, suggested to his mind the necessity of a
story; give him now but five minutes to collect himself, and I'll engage
that h