“And why not? My wife write and I invite in general terms; and now, Mr. A. Hamilton, Esquire, let us go to dinner.”
“I should wish beforehand to explain——”
“To my wife? Oh, very well; we call for her on the way.”
“Here,” he cried, throwing wide open the door of her apartment, “here I come to present my friend, Mr. A. Hamilton, Esquire; he wish in general terms to explain to you, and to kiss your hand.”
“The latter part of your speech is composed, Herrmann,” she answered, laughing. “Mr. Hamilton does not yet know enough of the ‘domestic manners of the Germans’ to be aware that kissing a lady’s hand is a very common action. Here is my hand—it is not, however, worth while blushing about it,” she added, drawing it back again; “and Herrmann shall be your deputy. It would be difficult to bring a perceptible addition of colour to that sunburnt face.”
He took both of her hands, and, as he pressed them to his lips, declared he was very content to have such a clever wife!
CHAPTER IV.
A WALK OF NO COMMON DESCRIPTION.
“Do you smoke, Mr. Hamilton?” asked Baron Z—, as he assisted his wife into the carriage.
“I rather like a cigar sometimes.”