ere one
blaze of brightness. Our eyes, filled with dust, were smarting long
before we got to the yet fiercer blaze of Sassnitz; and it was when we
found that the place is all chalk and white houses, built in the open
with the forest pushed well back behind, that with one accord we decided
not to stay in it.

I would advise the intending tourist to use Sassnitz only as a place to
make excursions to from Binz on one side or Stubbenkammer on the other;
though, aware of my peculiarities, I advise it with diffidence. For out
of every thousand Germans nine hundred and ninety-nine would give, with
emphasis, a contrary advice, and the remaining one would not agree with
me. But I have nothing to do with the enthusiasms of other people, and
can only repeat that it is a dusty, glaring place--quaint enough on a
fine day, with its steep streets leading down to the water, and on wet
days dreary beyond words, for its houses all look as though they were
built of cardboard and were only meant, as indeed is the case, to be
used during a few weeks in summer.

August, Gertrud, and the horses were sent to an inn for a three hours'
rest, and we walked down the little street, lined with stalls covered
with amber ornaments and photographs, to the sea. As it was dinner-time
the place was empty, and from the different hotels came such a hum and
clatter of voices and dishes that, remembering Sellin, we decided not to
go in. Down on the beach we found a confectioner's shop directly
overlooking the sea, with sun-blinds and open windows, and no one in it.
It looked cool, so we went in and sat at a marble table in a draught,
and the sea splashed refreshingly on the shingle just outside, and we
ate a great many cakes and sardines and vanilla ices, and then began to
feel wretched.

'What shall we do till four o'clock?' I inquired disconsolately, leaning
my elbows on the window-sill and watching the heat dancing outside over
the shingle.

'Do?' said somebody, stopping beneath the window; 'why, walk with us to
Stubbenkammer, of course.'

It was Ambrose, clad from head to foot in white linen, a cool and
beautiful vision.

'You here? I thought you were going to stay in Binz?'

'We came across for the day in a steamer. My mother is waiting for me in
the shade. She sent me to get some biscuits, and then we are going to
Stubbenkammer. Come too.'

'Oh but the heat!'

'Wait a minute. I'm coming in there to get the biscuits.'

He disappeared round