in the memory. "Her family had spoilt her," said he. "When they are married and my friend gets her to himself she will not behave so." "But why should she drink a second glass of champagne if she did not want it?" I asked. "Because he commanded her to," said this Petruchio, beginning to bristle at once; and he straightway told me another story about a man who threw his lady-love's dog into a pond, not because the dog needed a bath, but in assertion of his authority. The lady had wished to keep her dog out of the water. "Did she ever forgive the man?" said I. "Forgive!--What was there to forgive? The man wished to put the dog in the pond. A man must know how to enforce his will ... or he is no man." I nearly said "Lor!" like Mr. Tweddle in _The Tinted Venus_, but in Germany it's a serious matter, a sort of _lèse majesté_, to laugh at the rightful rule of man. You must expect to see them waited on hand and foot, and to take this service as a matter of course. I have known Englishmen embarrassed by this state of affairs. "They will get me chairs," complained one, "and at table the daughters jump up and wait on me. It's horrid." "Not at all," said I. "It's your due. You must behave as if you were used to it." "I can't. The other day I got the daughters of the house to sit still while I handed about cups of tea, and if some of the old boys didn't jump down their throats and tell them they'd no business to let me forget my dignity. Bless my dignity ... if it's such a tender plant as that...." "Sh!" I said. "They must have been old-fashioned people. In some houses young men hand cups." "They look jolly self-conscious while they're doing it, ... as if they didn't half like it. You bet, they take it out of their womenfolk when they get home. Look at that chap Müller!" "Where is he?" "In Dresden, where I lived last winter. He stormed the house down because his wife took up his glass of beer and drank before he did. Nearly had a fit. Said his dignity as a husband was damaged. Then he turned to me and asked whether even in England a wife would be so bold and bad?" "What did you say?" "I didn't say anything. I looked sick." "That's no use. You should say a great deal, and wave your arms about and hammer on the table. You don't know how to show emotion." "I should hope not," says the Englishman. "But German women are always telling me they envy the women in our country." "That's their politeness," I assure him. "They don't mean it. They're as happy as the day is long. Besides, Germans don't get drunk and beat their wives with pokers. You know perfectly well that most Englishmen----"