n for it but a laugh which we
had together.

The thing came about in this wise. We arrived at a small hotel which
boasted a garden, and was famous as a view-point. From the door a
carriage containing a man was about to drive away. The man was
approaching middle age, and had an air of quiet self-reliance which
redeemed him from insignificance. He was plainly dressed, in clothes
which were not new, and altogether he did not appear to be a personage
who, from the hotel-keeper's point of view, would be of supreme
importance. Yet the landlord and another besieged the quiet man with
compliments and pleadings, to which he did not seem inclined to
listen. Bowing gravely, he told his coachman to drive on, and in a
moment had passed us as we stood in the road.

But when he had gone, the landlord and his assistant still had no eyes
for us. "Mark my words," exclaimed the former, in a tone of anguish,
"we shall lose our star."

Were they astrologers, that they should fear this fate?

Our curiosity was excited, and seeing a head-waiterly person, who wore
a mien between awe and stifled amusement, I called for beer which I
did not wish to drink. It was served on a table in the shady garden,
and I enquired if the carriage just out of sight had contained a
troublesome guest.

"Troublesome is not the word, Monsieur," replied the waiter. "But a
thing has happened. That gentleman whom you saw, arrived a few days
ago, giving the name of Karl. He took the cheapest room in the house;
he drank one of the cheapest wines, having satisfied himself that the
price was within his means. To-day, he said that he was leaving, and
asked for his bill. When it was made out, the wine came to a franc
more than he thought it ought. 'I do not complain,' said he to our
_patron_; 'if that is the price of the wine, I will pay, but I was
told at the table it was less. I do not consider the wine good enough
for the price.' This vexed the _patron_, because one does not think
the more of a person who haggles over a franc, especially if that
person has studied cheapness in all ways during his visit. Perhaps the
_patron_ spoke somewhat irritably, for he did not care whether the
monsieur ever came back to his house or not. Then the monsieur paid
the bill, without another word, and was going away, when a German
gentleman, who had been sitting here in the garden, said to the
_patron_: 'Do you know who that is?' No,' replied our _patron_, 'I do
not know, nor do I ca