a party of Americans going to England. St. Cecilia meantime had
arrived, and was of course entertained by the napkin adventure. But she
could not abide Vienna, and quickly returned to Paris. As I wished to
"do" the Exposition and run no more risks of arrest, I decided to
withdraw to Baden, a half hour's ride by express from the Suedbahn
station of the Austrian capital, as the town was strongly recommended by
Herr Schwager and several American friends residing in Vienna. Herr
Schwager declared that with my small stock of _Deutsch sprechen_ the
Badenites would cheat me out of my eyes, and very kindly volunteered to
help me get installed. A history of the trials attending that
transaction would alone "fill a volume," but I mention only one, and
that simply because it seemed another link in the manifest chain of
destiny.

An hour after our arrangement for my accommodation for the season had
been settled "meine Wirthin" received a letter from her son-in-law that
he was coming, and she informed me that she would need her guest-chamber
for him, returning to me my advanced guldens at the same time she broke
her bargain. Nothing was to be done but to look elsewhere, and
eventually lodgings were obtained in the Bergstrasse, in quite another
part of the town. The locality was excellent, being very near the
promenade and music-gardens: then I liked the face of the
_Haus-meisterin,_ as did Herr Schwager, who wisely remarked that he
thought kindness of heart should rank high in that "benighted land."

I frequently went to Vienna, spending the day at the Exposition and
returning to Baden in the evening. Upon one of these occasions I found
upon my return to the Suedbahn that I had a half hour to wait for the
train. As I was hungry, I ordered a cup of coffee in the cafe
waiting-room. Upon putting my hand in my pocket for my portemonnaie, lo!
I had none, not a kreutzer to my name, and my portemonnaie contained
also my return railway-ticket! I was alone: it was seven o'clock in the
evening. My situation was dramatic, even comic, and I laughed to myself
and smiled upon a gentleman and two ladies who sat at the same table,
calmly remarking that I had been robbed of my _Gelttasche_: they smiled
in return, and nothing more. I sent a _kellner_ to bring me the master
of the cafe, whom I informed of my loss and my inability to pay my debt
to him. He at once led me off to a _commissaire de police_--of whom
there are always plenty about in civil