peared to gratify him. I felt encouraged,
and continued my enquiries.

"'Pardon me, sir, but at what hour ought the diligence to arrive at
Aix-la-Chapelle?'

"'At twenty-five minutes to five.'

"'But if the conductor's watch were slow?'

"'His watch can never be slow.'

"'Indeed! And why so?'

"'Opposite to where he sits, and under lock and key, there is a watch
which is regulated before starting by the clock at the coach-office. The
conductor knows at what hour he should pass through each town and
village on his route, and he makes the postilions hurry or slacken their
pace accordingly, so as to arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle exactly at the
right time.'

"'But with those precautions, how is it that we are obliged to wait upon
the road?'

"'The conductor has doubtless followed your example, and slept, and the
postilions have taken advantage of that to go quicker.'

"'Well, since we have still some time to remain here, I will get out and
stretch my legs a little.'

"'It is not allowed to get out of the diligence in Prussia.'

"'Indeed! That is very agreeable. I wished particularly to look at that
castle on the other side of the road.'

"'That is Emmaburg. It is the scene of the famous legend of _Eginhard
and Emma_.'

"'Really! Be so obliging as to change places with me for a moment, that
I may look at it through the window.'

"'I should be most happy, sir; but in Prussia it is not allowed to
change places.'

"'True, true! How could I forget it? I beg your pardon, sir.'

"'These tamned Frenchmans, they do noting but shatter and talk!' said a
fat German sitting opposite to me, opening his mouth for the first time
since we had left Liege, but still keeping his eyes shut.

"'You were saying, sir----?' said I, not particularly gratified by the
remark.

"'I say noting--I shleep.'

"'_Shleep_ as much as you like, but try not to dream aloud, eh? Or, if
you dream, dream in your mother tongue.'

"The German began to snore.

"'Postilion, _vorwarts!_' shouted the conductor.

"We were off at a gallop. I put my head out of the window to try to get
a view of the ruins, but it was vain; they had disappeared behind an
angle of the road. At twenty-five minutes to five, not a second later or
earlier, we drove into the coach-yard at Aix-la-Chapelle."

At Cologne M. Dumas pauses, and fills a hundred pages with the
cathedral, and the legend attaching to it. Most of our readers are
probably aware that the above-named