s so extremely fortunate as to have a story to tell about a
sofa-corner. There was a physician back in the country, with a very
small practice, and the sofa in his parlor had a great hole in it: so,
whenever a caller came, the doctor's wife was very affable, and seated
herself forthwith upon the torn place in the sofa. It was a good story
enough, and Frau Lay-Figure told it well, too: and she laughed, as she
generally did; for she laughed at every thing: but nobody else laughed
very heartily.

Luckily, a stranger was now introduced; quite a distinguished
personage, who now made her first appearance at the grand coffee-party.
This was the wife of the Director of the Water-works, who, in the
discharge of his duties as Rhine Commissioner, had come to reside for a
short time in the little town.

The Frau Directorin of the Water-works seated herself, all
unconsciously, in Bella's old place.

And now they could begin.

But who would have guessed that the covetousness of the Cabinetsraethen
would be first discussed as a kind of appetizing morsel! This was the
way with great people. Of course, one could get clothes from Paris by
such machinations. A magnificent system of bribery indeed! Who knew
what else she might have got out of Sonnenkamp, and others besides? The
ladies were almost ashamed of their own virtuous stupidity.

The English lady spoke with great respect of the Americans who had
purchased the villa of the Cabinetsrath.

The Consul's wife in particular, she said, belonged to one of the first
families in the Northern States; for there was a decided aristocracy
there, distinguished for its noble bearing. The great merchants, the
millionaires of the North, were usually called "merchant-princes."

Frau White, or Frau "Coal," as she was called, gazed reverently up at
the English lady. Her glance said that she considered the latter a
happy woman to have any thing so well worth telling.

The Rhine Commissioner's wife had a very good time. To her they could
tell the whole story of the house of Sonnenkamp; and the ladies took
turns, and supplemented one another's narratives.

The wife of the cement-manufacturer wore her perpetual frown, and
nodded occasionally, as if she had much to say, when, in reality, she
had nothing.

Frau Lay-Figure observed, smiling sweetly, that it was very interesting
to have known a slave-trader. She had often wished to see one.

"And a cannibal too!" said the wife of the steamboat-age