LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 1842, 17 January 1880, Page 3

LITERATURE.

CROSS-PURPOSES. [“ London Society.”] About three-quarters of an hour after crossing the bridge at Kehl, on the Baden side of the railway from Paris to Frankfort, the traveller arrives at the small but not unimportant station of A{ penweier. From here he may, if he elect to abandon the direct route, be transported by means of a branch line to Freiburg and Basle ; or, by taking his seat in a nondescript vehicle, half diligence, half omnibus, awaiting his pleasure at the door of tho adjoining restaurant, penetrate int r the recesses of the Black Forest, and at the close of an up-and-down-hill journey of two hours through a delightfully picturesque country, be safely landed at whichever of the rival bath establishments he may choose to honor with his preference, Petersthal or Griesbach. It was to the last-named locality that, on a broiling July afternoon, a year or two before the outbreak of the Franoo-Prussian war, a family patty, consisting of father, mother, and daughter, voluntary martyrs in a c’osely packed second-class carriage, wore journeying from the neighboring town of v’arlsruho, with the nsnal velocity of an ordinary Germain tra’n. Herr Kanzleirath Piep.nhagea, the chief of this little band of pleamre-seekers, was a stout middle-sized parsonage, considerably on the shady side of fifty, with small twinkling eyes, and a complexion bordering on the cadaverous ; he wore a black alpaca coat and waistcoat, gray trousers of some cheap native fabric, much too short for him, and a straw hat with a very broad brim; and on his knee reposed a green oarpet-bag, emblazoned with a sprawling ‘ Gute Reise,’ worked in worsted of divers colors. Hla wife, sitting immediately opposite to him was a sharp featared, sallow-cheeked,

beetle-browed dame, whose age nrght have been anything over forty, and whose general aspect hote a striking aspect bore a striking resemblance to that of Mrs Pipchin, as delineated by ‘Phiz,’ her long lean fingers were family engaged in the national exercise of knitting, and as if to prove that this occnpalion was purely manual, and in no r egree monopoly ed her attention, she found leisure, without relapting into inactivity, to address sundry acrimonious remarks to her liege lord with reference to her sufferings from heat, dust, flies, and other incidental grievance-* (for all of which, collectively and individually, she evidently held him responsible', and to reply in a less acrid tone to an occasional observation of Fraulein Plepenhagen, ensconced in the corner beside her.

H d I avater himself been placed face to fscs wi’h the damsel in question, we doubt whether he would have divined the possibility of aoy relationship between the particularly unattractive couple whose personal appearance we have endeavored to depict, and the p-etty and graceful girl whose prepossessing exterior, in spite < f the 111 fitting cotton dress and the flaming red shawl from the maternal wordrobe whica constituted her trave ling costum?, contrasted so strangely with the Dutch tumbler lit e unwielilineas of the Kanzleirath, and the stiff ungainly totirmire of her lady mother. Fraulein Bertha had soft blue eyes, and a profusion of chestnut hair which, in defianoa of the prevailingifashion, she wore in ri> glets ; her figure was slight, but exquisitely proportioned, and her tiny and well-shaped hands, encased, we regret to say, in a pair of yellow thread gloves, might have served as a model for Houbigant or Boivin. So much for the physique of our heroine ; when we add that she was of an amiable disposition, tolerably accomplished, and not altogether deficient in that tinge of sentimentalism peculiar to the maidens of the Fatherland we shall have described her with sufficient accuracy. Tne longest and most tedious journey—even on a German railway— com»s sooner or later to an end; after divers halts at Kastadt, Oos, Achern, and other intervening villages, the train at length slowly neared the station of Appenweier, and the Kanzleirath, who had heen enjoying a fitful repose for the last quarter of au hour received intimation of the fact by means of a sharp application of hia wife’s parasol on the calf of his leg. ‘ Herr je !’ he exclaimed, starting up, and flattening his straw hat by coming in contact with the top of the ca-riage ‘V» hat’s the matter V he added, rubbing his eyes with his knuckles. * Tickets ready!’ ftornly replied the Kanzleirathin, ‘ and don’t be all day about it.’ Before many minutes had elapsed the party were dn'y installed in the interior of the Eilwagen; the luggage was securely packed on the roof, and the driver had already gathered up his reins preparatory to starting, when an individual in a fustian jacket, representing alternately the waiter, boots and ostler of the establishment, signalled to him to stop. ' Don’t be in a hurry, Schwager,’ he raid; * there’s another pssaenger going with you.’ He had hardly finished speaking, when a young man, dressed in a suit (f light-colored tweed, and carrying a small F ortman teau in his hand, emerged from the open door of the restaurant, and, glancing carelessly as he passed at the family trio inside the vehicle, took his seat on the coach box, lit a cigar, and threw a piece of money to the expectant waiter. ‘Danke scbon, Herr Baron,’ shouted that fund ionary, as the Eilwagen slowly rolled away. When they were fairly in motion, the Kanzlearathn gave her husband a nudge with her elbow. ‘ T'id yon hear that ? ’ she inquired. ‘ Hear what ? ’ murmured her spouse in a provokingly indifferent and drowsy tone. ‘ Neiu! ’ exclaimed the indignant lady, * das ist zu stark 1 As I live, the man’s half asleep again! ’ ‘ I heard, mother,’ interposed Bertha, anxious to prevent any further discussion ; * the waiter said, Herr Baron. Do you suppose ho is going to Gtiesbach, or only to Petersthal? ’ ‘To Griesbach, of course,’ replied Fran Kunigundo decisively, with a look worthy of her imposing name. ‘No one who has any pretensions to good society would think of staying at such a hole as Petersthal.’ (It is probable that, had the Kanzleirathin been bound to Petersthal, she would have said the same of Griesbach, but this by the way.) 1 1 wonder if he is really a Baron ? ’ continued her daughter in a low whisper. * Baron ! pooh, nonsense I’ growled Herr Piepenhagen, who, being at that moment sorely harassed by a persistent blue-bottle, had overheard the remark, ‘waiters will call anyone Baron for six kreulzers V ‘ldiot, muttered hia lady wife, with a contemptuous shrug of the shoulder; after which display of conjugal endearment she relapsed into a haughty silence, which lasted, with few interruptions, until they reached the muoh-caluminated Petersthal. To tie great delight of at least two of his fellow-travellers, the stranger manifested no present intention of taVing up his quarters at the “pension,” at the door of which the conductor of the Eilwagen made a short halt, on the chance of securing a stray recruit or so for the remaining portion of hia journey. No such volunteer, however, putting in an appearance, and the “ Herr Baron,” who had descended f.-om his perch for the purpose of holding a brief conference with the landlord, with whom he was evidently well acquainted, having reascended to his seat, the ponderous vehicle sesumed its course an-JW, and iu little mors than half-an hour finally deposited its weary passengers at the hospitable portals of Herr Jockerst, proprietor of the establishment at Griesbach.

While the Fiepenbagen family are reposing after their fatigue in the clean but sparingly furnished dormitories luckily reserved for them, every other nook and corner in the house, with the exception of a diminutive cell about the size of a Calais steamer deckcabin, also retained for their travelling companion, being a’ready occupied, it may not be amiss to describe as succinctly as possible the locale of our story. The three baths, Rippoldrau, Peterathal, and Griesbach, form a species of triangle of which the latter is th- farthest point ; it is almost entirely encircled by a range of thickly-wooded hills, intersected by winding paths, and affording at various artistically contrived openings agreeably diversified views over the surrounding country. The large straggling building under the direction of Herr dookerst may be considered not merely as pa-t and parcel of Griesbach. but as Driesbach itself, inasmuch as, barring a scattered group of neighboring cottages, it stands completely alone, and is absolutely monarch of all it surve> s. Its architecture may be in some respects amenable to criticism, as having no distinct character of its own, and leading one to suppose that the wings and out buildings had been added to the original structure at subsequent intervals, as a means of satisfying the increasing demand for accommodation. Bat that this most desirable end has been successfully attained there can be no manner of doubt. The portion of the interior devoted to the requirements of the gnests consists, besides the sleeping apartments, of a spacious and lofty hall used indiscrimicately as dining and drawing room ; and here, in accordance with the primitive habits of the place, the visirora are wont to assemble after supper, and listen to tho combined eff >rts of half-a-dozen musicians attached to the pension, whose services ate rewarded by a fixed charge inserted as a separate item in the weekly bills. The baths, the main object of most frequenters of this secluded spot, are disposed in subterranean chambers like cellars in the immediate vicinity of the spring ; and in the rear of the premises is a pleasure garden, abounding in shady walks and sequestered nooks, equally suitable for repose or flirtation. When we have added that tho ordinary soett ty of the pension Jock erst is mainly composed of families from the adjacent towns of Carlaruhe, Stuttgart Heidelberg, and Mannheim, attracted thither either by motives of health or economy, we shall have given a tolerably exact idea of the establishment into which our travellers are on the point of being introduced. And be it here parenthetical y observed that had not Herr Piepenhagen, whose official salary barely averaged twelve hundred florins, or something like a hundred a year, been recently honored by a supplementary gratification rf two hundred florins, as a special mark of grand ducal favor, he and his belongings might have sighed in vain for an opportunity of exchanging the dusty, sultry atmosphere of the Residenz for the pinedad heights and fresh mountain breezes of Griesbach,

As soon as the first srunds of the bell summoning the guests to tht-ir eveticg meal were hoard, a general rush took place for the purpose of inspecting the namts of the new arrivals, already recorded as follows in the Premden-Buch : * Herr Kanzleirath Piepenhagen, with wifs and daughter, from ' 'arlsruhe. * Heinrich Hosenberg, from Worms.’ ‘ Then he is not a baron after all,’ whispered the disappointed Hertha to her mother, as they were adjourning to the supper-room. ‘Who knows, child?’ replied Ihe stately dame. ' Kings often travel incognito, and why shouldn’t barons? ’ ‘ Rosenberg’s a pretty name, at any rate,’ said Berths. [To 'be. continued.)