She who seemed to be the mother of the children, a tall, gaunt person, had her head and chin bound up with a large pocket-handkerchief, and seemed to be suffering from toothache, which rather puzzled Hamilton when he had discovered that she had apparently lost all her teeth, though by no means old, as appeared from her fresh-coloured features and hair untinged with gray. The other two were very young and perfect personifications of German beauty—blue eyes, blooming cheeks, red lips, and a profusion of brown hair most classically braided and platted. That they were sisters scarcely admitted of a doubt, so remarkable was their resemblance to each other—a nearer inspection made it equally evident that one was much handsomer than the other. They were both tall and very slightly formed, and their dark cotton dresses were made and put on with an exactness that proved they were not indifferent to the advantages bestowed on them by nature. Hamilton stood at the window, an object of interest, as it seemed, to no one excepting the three little boys, who, with their mouths full of roast chicken, turned round on their chairs to stare at him, notwithstanding the repeated admonitions of their mother, enforced by an occasional shake of the shoulder. The young ladies, to Hamilton’s infinite astonishment, took the chicken-bones in their fingers and detached the meat from them with their teeth! He felt at once convinced that they were immeasurably vulgar, thereby forming an erroneous conclusion very common on the part of his travelling countrymen, who are not aware that the mode of eating is in Germany no such exact criterion of manners as in England. His dinner was now ready, and as he seated himself at the table one of his pretty neighbours glanced shyly towards him in a manner that proved that he had not been so unobserved as he imagined. With all the vanity of youth he determined in his turn to play indifference, traced diligently his route on the map which he had placed beside him, and made inquiries about Seon. The lady with the bound-up head tapped at the window and asked her coachman if he were ready to put to the horses; the answer was indistinct, but the words “late enough” and “Seon” reached Hamilton’s ears. Bonnets, gloves, and handkerchiefs were sought, and the children given in charge of their maid to be packed into the carriage. “I think we had better get in with the boys and arrange ourselves comfortably,” observed the elder lady, following them out of the room. “Comfort!” exclaimed one of the girls, in a melancholy voice, as she tied on her bonnet; “comfort is quite out of the question. I wish with all my heart we were at Seon! On such a day as this seven in a carriage is anything but agreeable.” “I should not mind,” answered the other, half-laughing, “if Peppy did not insist on sitting on my knee; he kicks so incessantly that I suffered tortures on my way here.”