r dinner rest awhile;
After supper walk a mile.'
"I would advise that you do not set out upon your journey so soon after
eating, but rest at least half an hour, and for that purpose we will go
to the reception-room, where there are comfortable chairs."
As soon as they were seated, and the landlady had taken her knitting,
she asked if they had learned anything new in Frankfort.
"Yes," said Fritz, eagerly; "we learned to make coffee, and to cook
potatoes and other things. My aunt let us help her."
"That was good; people ought to learn everything that comes in their
way. Now tell us what you saw in Frankfort."
Nothing could have been pleasanter to the triplets than to live over
again those hours of sight-seeing, and all three helped tell of their
visit.
"Now listen to this," said the landlord, who had picked up a Frankfort
paper:
"An Englishman lost his pocketbook on Saturday evening in the grounds of
the Forest-house, in the suburbs of Frankfort. It contained valuable
papers and money, and was found by a young man named Pixy from the
Odenwald country, and delivered to the owner."
The landlord and his wife laughed at the mistake of the reporter until
tears stood in their eyes; and then the three boys repeated the story
again, and told of the English cousin, and of Uncle Braun, and ended by
saying that they felt that they knew everybody and every place in
Frankfort.
When they put on their knapsacks to depart, each took out his purse to
pay their bill.
"Oh, no, boys," said the landlord, "I cannot take pay for your very
plain dinner. You were our guests and were not the least trouble."
"Oh, thank you! thank you!" they said in concert, and Paul voiced the
opinion of all, when he said that had they ordered it, they could not
have gotten anything they would have enjoyed more.
The three then took generous tips from their purses, and put the money
in the hand of their host.
"Will you please give this to Letta and Peter?" they asked.
"Certainly, certainly! and I thank you in their names for it. And now,
boys, you will have to walk several miles to reach the little village
where Fritz's father said you would stay over night on your way home."
"Did you see father?" asked the boy in surprise.
"Certainly! He would not think of going to Frankfort without stopping to
see me."
They shook hands with the innkeeper and his wife, who invited them to
come to see them the next time they went to Frankfort,
|