atly in the
esteem of the public that not long after it failed. The president gave
up banking, and began to speculate in real estate. He increased in
riches and prospered in the world. He called his lands after his own
name. He thought his house would continue forever, and men praised him,
because he did well to himself. He settled his children comfortably in
life, and when he died, not so very long ago, all felt that the world
was better because he had lived in it, and that, although their loss
when he was taken was heavy, it was, nevertheless, his great gain.

CHAPTER VII.

GILDED SIRS WHO ARE NOT WISE.

After a pleasant voyage the Russia arrived, and one May morning I walked
into the Northwestern Railway station in Liverpool to take the train for
London. The bonds were in a little handbag, and I was free to look
around. Everything was novel and strange, and all things told me I was
in a foreign land. I had, like most young people, a particularly good
opinion of myself and something of an idea as to my own importance.

We arrived in London amid a drizzling rain, and I was much impressed
with the mighty roar of the traffic in the streets. We drove to Langham
place, where I had a regular English tea, and liked it immensely, too.
The next night I left Victoria Station for Dover, and crossing the
Channel to Ostend, went through to Brussels and stopped there, having
wanted, ever since boyhood, to visit the field of Waterloo. I looked
through the city that day, visiting the famous City Hall and one of the
art galleries. Retiring early I arose early and drove out to the plain
immortalized by the giant struggle of those valiant hosts, but did not
purchase any of the relics which were freely offered. These have been
sold by shiploads to two generations of visitors. Returning to Brussels,
I paid my bill at the Hotel de Paris, and was amused over the
inventiveness of the proprietor in making charges--towels, candles,
soap, attendance, paper, envelopes, being among them.

Going to the station I bought my ticket for Frankfort--that old town I
was destined to see so much of during the next few years. On my journey
I would pass through Cologne, and from there the railway skirts the bank
of the Rhine. This being my first visit to Europe, I was intensely
curious to see everything, especially the Cathedral at Cologne, and was
eager to linger a few days along the banks of the Rhine. But I was more
eager to complete the bond