A DISASTROUS DRINK On the day of the opening of the National Assembly--that is, the day before the first vital session--Leo Strakosch, equipped with a valise, made various purchases. At Sacher’s he bought, for an outrageous sum that once would have paid for an entire building on the Ringstrasse, a Strassbourg _paté de foie gras_ in the original dish; and in the Hotel Imperial he acquired three bottles of a delicious white Burgundy, three bottles of the heaviest and most costly Bordeaux wines, and a bottle of ancient French cognac. In the evening he waited before the entrance of his house until he saw Herr Krötzl, about to go to a bar after the solemn opening session of the Assembly. Leo congratulated him heartily on his re-election, and said: “My dear sir, I should also like to attend the historic session of the House tomorrow. The meeting begins at eleven, so I’ll order my car for ten o’clock; and if you’ve nothing against it, I’ll drive you over.” Herr Krötzl felt highly flattered at the cordiality of the aristocratic and apparently very wealthy young Frenchman. Thanking him profusely, he accepted the invitation, adding: “I’d be much obliged to you if you’d come to me at ten o’clock, ’cause then I won’t be takin’ no chances of sleepin’ too late. My housekeeper, the poor fool, might forget to wake me, an’ I sleep so sound that the alarm can’t get me up. An’ that’d be a fine howdy-do, if I was to oversleep tomorrow. Twenty-four hours later we’d have them damned pigs o’ Jews back in Vienna!” Henry Dufresne seemed to take his self-assumed task of saving Austria from the Jews very seriously, for he rang Herr Krötzl’s doorbell at only half-past nine. A slovenly, unwashed, but still rouged and powdered young thing opened the door, and without further ado let in the handsome Frenchman, whom she knew well and who was carrying a large box. She was a little disappointed that he did not pay the slightest attention to her and her considerably exposed body, but merely gave her a bank-note and asked her please to fetch the morning papers immediately from the store. In the anteroom Leo made a great to-do about unpacking his box until the girl had gone out on her errand; then he went quickly into the kitchen, set the cuckoo clock back a full hour, tip-toed out into the living-room and did the same to the grandfather clock there, and finally, without knocking, noiselessly entered the door of the Deputy’s bed-room, where the honorable gentleman lay under the covers, thunderous snores issuing from his open mouth. Leo immediately discovered the gold watch on the night table, pointing to a quarter of ten. In a flash it was set to a quarter of nine, and then the Frenchman entered on the unpleasant task of waking Herr Krötzl, the Viennese pillar of the Christian-Socialist party. It took quite some time before Krötzl at last opened his swollen little eyes and grasped the situation.