sat by his
plain, stout, ill-dressed Frau, with his back to the scenery, and ate.
Occasionally he spoke in monosyllables: more often he drank; but the
end and object of his Rhine trip seemed to be that of consuming as
much food as lay within the limits of possibility. What Nemesis has in
store for him and those of his manner of life I can only imagine!

At a table near us sat three women and two men. Directly we left Koeln
a waiter set forth trays in front of them laden with coffee,
zwiebacks, hoernchens, and eggs. This meal over, they sat sleepily
blinking their eyes, whisking away flies, and mopping the moisture
from their faces until the sound of "Eis! meine Herrschaften!" "Bier!
meine Herrschaften!" roused them from their lethargy. Ices and beer
and cherries and peaches successively filled up the weary hours until
"the tocsin of the soul, the dinner bell," carried joy to their
hearts. I can never forget the rapturous look of anticipation and
satisfaction which those stolid middle-class Teutonic countenances
wore when "Mittagsessen" was announced. They shook off their normal
and habitual torpidity, and cheerfully elbowed their neighbours,
nearly tumbling down the companion-ladder in their eagerness to be
first in the field. They lost no time over the unlovely detail of
tucking a corner of their napkins down their necks, and smoothing its
folds over their protuberant persons; and they studied the
Speise-Karte with a conscientiousness that was worthy of a better
cause.

Dinner began with a tolerably good soup, followed by tough roast beef,
cut in thick slices and garnished with carrots, peas and beans. Next
came veal, equally uneatable, and then a surprise in the shape of
Rhine salmon; after which followed chicken, salad, and _compote_.
Finally, a stodgy pudding, sufficiently satisfying, and dessert. Not
one item of the menu was neglected by the five. They calmly and
conscientiously and readily ate through the Speise-Karte from start to
finish. Then they returned to deck, only to order coffee and ices, and
called for a bottle of champagne, three of light Rhine wine, and a
plateful of peaches; out of which they brewed a cup, ladling it from a
Taunus ware bowl into their long Munich glasses, and sipping it lazily
all the afternoon between such trifles as Kuchen and fresh relays of
cherries. They ate and drank from Koeln to Bingen with rare intervals
of dozing, and I never once saw any of the party take the faintest
i