Gracious!
how very far away for him--this honest burgher of Dantzic! He was
traversing, with heavy tread, the promenade in Berlin, which bears the
name of one of Alphonse Karrs' romances: _Sous les tilleuls._ In German:
_Unter den Linden._

What mighty agency had thrown out of his bon-bon box, this big red
bon-bon on two legs? The same that led Alexander to Babylon, Scipio to
Carthage, Godfrey de Bouillon to Jerusalem, and Napoleon to
Moscow--Ambition! Meiser did not expect to be presented with the keys of
the city on a cushion of red velvet, but he knew a great lord, a clerk
in a government office, and a chambermaid who were working to get a
patent of nobility for him. To call himself Von Meiser instead of plain
Meiser! What a glorious dream!

This good man had in his character that compound of meanness and vanity
which places lacqueys so far apart from the rest of mankind. Full of
respect for power, and admiration for conventional greatness, he never
pronounced the name of king, prince, or even baron, without emphasis and
unction. He mouthed every aristocratic syllable, and the single word
"Monseigneur" seemed to him like a mouthful of well-spiced soup.
Examples of this disposition are not rare in Germany, and are even
occasionally found elsewhere. If they could be transported to a country
where all men are equal, homesickness for boot-licking would kill them.

The claims brought to bear in favor of Nicholas Meiser, were not of the
kind which at once spring the balance, but of the kind which make it
turn little by little. Nephew of an illustrious man of science,
powerfully rich, a man of sound judgment, a subscriber to the _New
Gazette of the Cross_, full of hatred for the opposition, author of a
toast against the influence of demagogues, once a member of the City
Council, once an umpire in the Chamber of Commerce, once a corporal in
the militia, and an open enemy of Poland and all nations but the strong
ones. His most brilliant action dated back ten years. He had denounced,
by an anonymous letter, a member of the French Parliament who had taken
refuge in Dantzic. While Meiser was walking under the lindens, his cause
was progressing swimmingly. He had received that sweet assurance from
the very lips of its promoters. And so he tripped lightly toward the
depot of the North-Eastern Railroad, without any other baggage than a
revolver in his pocket. His black leather trunk had gone before; and was
waiting for him at t