ght overtake his
wicked wife, and punish her as she deserved. And then the conversation
took a turn, not uncommon to those whose lives are quiet and monotonous;
every one seemed to vie with each other in telling about some horror;
and the savage and mysterious band of robbers called the Chauffeurs,
who infested all the roads leading to the Rhine, with Schinderhannes at
their head, furnished many a tale which made the very marrow of my bones
run cold, and quenched even Amante's power of talking. Her eyes grew
large and wild, her cheeks blanched, and for once she sought by her
looks help from me. The new call upon me roused me. I rose and said,
with their permission my husband and I would seek our bed, for that we
had travelled far and were early risers. I added that we would get up
betimes, and finish our piece of work. The blacksmith said we should
be early birds if we rose before him; and the good wife seconded my
proposal with kindly bustle. One other such story as those they had been
relating, and I do believe Amante would have fainted.

As it was, a night's rest set her up; we arose and finished our work
betimes, and shared the plentiful breakfast of the family. Then we had
to set forth again; only knowing that to Forbach we must not go, yet
believing, as was indeed the case, that Forbach lay between us and that
Germany to which we were directing our course. Two days more we wandered
on, making a round, I suspect, and returning upon the road to Forbach, a
league or two nearer to that town than the blacksmith's house. But as we
never made inquiries I hardly knew where we were, when we came one night
to a small town, with a good large rambling inn in the very centre of
the principal street. We had begun to feel as if there were more safety
in towns than in the loneliness of the country. As we had parted with a
ring of mine not many days before to a travelling jeweller, who was too
glad to purchase it far below its real value to make many inquiries as
to how it came into the possession of a poor working tailor, such as
Amante seemed to be, we resolved to stay at this inn all night, and
gather such particulars and information as we could by which to direct
our onward course.

We took our supper in the darkest corner of the _salle-a-manger_, having
previously bargained for a small bedroom across the court, and over the
stables. We needed food sorely; but we hurried on our meal from dread of
any one entering that public