THEY NOW BECAME ENVELOPED IN WHAT SEEMED A COMBINATION OF FOG (LONDON NOVEMBER) AND MIST (SCOTCH). ONLY THINK OF THOSE TWO NATIONAL INSTITUTIONS GOING UP THE RHINE WITH THE REST OF THE FASHIONABLE WORLD. AT FIRST IT OBSCURED THE HILL TOPS, WITH THE RUINS THEREON; THEN THE VILLAGES AND VINEYARDS BELOW; AND FINALLY BOTH BANKS OF THE RIVER ENTIRELY DISAPPEARED. THE COMPANY ON BOARD THE STEAMBOAT DID NOT, AT THIS PERIOD, PRESENT THE MOST CHEERFUL ASPECT.
HOW ROBINSON’S FAVOURITE PORTMANTEAU, WHICH HE HAD FORGOTTEN TO LOCK, WAS DROPPED ACCIDENTALLY BY A PORTER WHILE CONVEYING IT TO THE OMNIBUS.
JONES HINTS TO ROBINSON THAT IT IS TIME TO GET UP.
HOW THEY VISITED A “QUARTER” OF THE CITY OF FRANKFORT, AND WHAT THEY SAW THERE!
| ROBINSON HERE WROTE HIS CELEBRATED LETTER TO THE “TIMES,” ON THE SUBJECT OF THE DEFICIENCY OF SOAP AND WATER, FROM WHICH, AS WE HAVE SEEN IN A FORMER PAGE, HE SUFFERED SO GRIEVOUSLY. IT WAS CONCEIVED IN TERMS OF INDIGNANT ELOQUENCE; AND DREW A TERRIBLE PICTURE OF THE STATE OF SOCIAL, POLITICAL, AND RELIGIOUS DEGRADATION INTO WHICH A COUNTRY MUST HAVE SUNK, WHERE SUCH THINGS COULD BE TOLERATED. | AS THEY WALKED THROUGH THE TOWN, BENT UPON SEEING THE ARIADNE, AND UNCONSCIOUS OF DANGER, SUDDENLY AN OBJECT APPEARED IN SIGHT THAT FILLED THEM WITH TERROR. IT WAS THE “BORE!” STEPPING JAUNTILY ALONG ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET. TO HESITATE WAS TO BE LOST! SO THEY PLUNGED INTO THE NEAREST SHOP FOR PROTECTION, AND STOOD THERE BREATHLESS WITH EXPECTATION AND FEAR. PRESENTLY JONES—PUTTING HIS HEAD VERY GRADUALLY OUT— RECONNOITRED, AND FINDING ALL SAFE THEY RESUMED THEIR WAY. |