gallery like that in which the men and boys sat who tramped the
loudest and kissed their hands, to the confusion of their neighbors,
when the lights were turned down to enhance the effect of the burning
of Moscow; only, at my panorama the gallery was unfashionable on
account of the noisy male element, whereas at Carlstad it was the
dress-circle. We--a party of Americans, the only foreigners in the
house that night--occupied orchestra-stalls, as I presume the two or
three front benches in the parquet may be called. There was a white
cape in our vicinity, as well as one in the balcony; so our seats were
probably as fashionable as those in the first and only circle; but
behind us, stretching out to the doors and in under the gallery, was a
dense mass unrelieved by opera-cloaks of any description; and that was
the region of the unpretending---of those who came simply to enjoy, to
see and not to be seen.

As we spent a good part of a day at Carlstad, I should, perhaps,
relate something more of the place than merely how we went to
the theatre there; but that delightful evening effaced all other
impressions, and after the interval that has since elapsed _Fleur
de The_ and our commissioner are the only things that have retained
somewhat of their original savor.

The railway from Stockholm to Christiania ceased at Carlstad on Lake
Wener, which gave us a day's drive to Arvika to strike the track
again; and while we stood consulting where we were to get carriages,
and whether we should go directly on, there came up a flourishing
specimen of the genus _valet de place_, who took possession of us and
laid out a plan that he had apparently prepared over night for our
especial benefit. It is a way those persons have, and one that gives
them a tremendous advantage over travelers weakened by a long journey,
that they act as if they were there by appointment to meet you, or as
if you had telegraphed precisely what you wished to do, and they were
merely carrying out your intentions. "You want to go to the Black
Eagle Hotel: I take you there. You would like to dine: you can have
dinner at the hotel, or I shall show you a nice restaurant." We had
not expected to find a member of the great European brotherhood just
there in a little town in the heart of Sweden, and, taken unawares,
fell an easy prey. However, they do not invariably succeed in that
way: sometimes, if their officiousness is excessive, their English
very exasperating and the