yon, settling with porters, garçons, and maitres de poste, while her Yorkshire maid was watching, with dismay, the rough handling of her lady's precious parcels, and Miss St. L. looking as if she did not care if they were all lost, if she could but save her friend from these rough duties, to which she is compelled by being the only one of the party who speaks German.
My dear C.,
We have been waiting for fine weather, that being an indispensable element in a party of pleasure, for an excursion down the Rhine, and this morning we set off, the girls and myself, without any attendant of mankind; an elegant superfluity, as we are beginning to think.
While Francois was getting our billets, we, eager to secure the best places in the diligence, jostled past the Germans, who stood quietly awaiting the conductor's summons; and when, ten minutes after, our fellow-passengers were getting in, offering to one another precedence, the conductor came to us and said, "Ah, ladies, you are placed; I had allotted better seats for you." Was not this an appropriate punishment for our selfish and truly national hurrying? I could give you many instances of similar offences committed by ourselves and other travellers among these "live-and-let-live" people. There is a steam navigation company on the Rhine, who have three boats ascending and descending daily; this en-
