The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

SUPPLEMENT TO THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. saloon, a little disapointed, it must be confessed, at being " frustrate of his will." In a few moments, however, he regained his equanimity, and though he paused occasionally, to observe the different games, the thought of his trifling loss never onced occurred to him. An hour or two having passed in this manner, Lady Acton, who began to feel rather tired, suggested that it was time for them to return to Frankfort. " By all means," said Lord Acton, " let us go." This was more easily said than done, a slight impe diment to their departure occurring in the shape of the Ober-Kellner of the establishment, who, with a smil ing face, approached Lord Acton, and, making a low bow, presented a paper, on which, in minute hierogly phics, were traced the following interesting parti culars :--- " LECHNUNG 2 Diners 1 Flasche Stein (Cabinet) Wein 1 „ Champagner-Wein 1 Halbe-Flache Liebfraumilch Maraschino di Zara 2 Tasses Cafe Cigarren 2 Fliischer Selters-Wassers Cognac fl. kr. .. 3 30 .. 6 00 .. 4 30 .. 2 00 . 0 40 . 0 30 . 0 30 ~ 0 30 . 0 40 Sununa...... ...... 18 50" In plain English, the dinner, wine, and etceteras, came to exactly one pound thirteen shillings and a penny halfpenny. " By George !" exclaimed Lord Acton, as he glanced at the bill, " I quite forg ot all about this ! I ha v e n 't a farthing left! What' s t o be done ?" The expression of his face was so comical in this dilemma, that Lady Acton burst out laughing. " So much for turning gambler," she said. " What am I to do ?" repeated Lord Acton, looking full at the Ober-Kellner. " Der Herr will pay his bill," replied the head waiter, rather puzzled at the question ; " it was quite correct---ganz richtig."_ " Oh, quite right, I dare say ; I don't dispute a syl lable of it, but unluickily, I haven't got any money." " Ach !" exclaimed the Ober-Kellner, beginning to look grim ; " wherefore, sir, you dine without money ?" " I had money enough when I came here," retorted Lord Acton, " but the fact is, I lost it all at rouge-et noir, I think you call it !" The Ober-Kellner shrugged his shoulders, as much as to say he didn't believe a word of it. " I shall speak to my masters," he said ; but with out quitting the place, where he stood confronting Lord and Lady Acton, he called out to another waiter who was passing by, " Horen-Sie Mahl, August ; diese zwey, Personen konnten nicht Ihre Rechnung bezah len. Bittet euch den Herrn Haupt Kursaals-President gleich hier zu kommen!" ("Hark'e, Augustus ; these two persons can't pay their bill. Ask the principal president of the saloon to come here directly.") And having rapidly delivered himself of this jargon, he stuck his arms a-kimbo, and with a leonine aspect con tinued to glare on the defaulters. A This is too absurd," said Lord Acton, addressing his wife. " Rather good fun, I think," returned Constance, still laughing. " Ach ! mein Gott !" growled the Ober-Kellner, " Dies'ist ein' unverschamte Schwindleri !" (" Oh ! my God ; this is an impudent swindle !") The atmosphere of a gaming-house is of so stimu lating a nature that, slow as the Germans are in gene ral, at Homburg they are actually quick, and a proof of this was given by the speedy appearance of the gentle man with the long official title. He was a stout, full-faced, smooth-visaged character, in spectacles, with a massive gold chain stretched across his person, a ponderous signet-ring on each forefinger, and the ribbon of the most noble and princely order of " The Golden Sausage" in his button-hole, so that his make-up formed a kind of cross between a professor who is not a baron, and a baron who is not a professor. With a volubility which, most likely, he could not have displayed under other circumstances, the Ober- Kellner, in his own tongue, described the state of the case, not forgetting the fact that the lady-delinquent appeared to him the worst of the two, her clear, merry laughter still ringing in his ears. At the close of the Ober-Kellner's communication, the president of the casino turned his full-orbed spec tacles on the defaulting parties, and, after a silent scru tiny of some moments, said, in grave but polite accents, "Is it possible, sir : I hope that we have here some mistake ?" " I am afraid not," replied Lord Acton, coolly. " Must one understand," pursued the president, translating his German thought into formal English, "that you have here two dinners eaten without money?" " Not exactly : I had more than enough for a dozen dinners when we sat down ; but, the fact is, I lost it all in this room afterwards, without recollecting the bill." " Ah !" said the president, opening his mouth very wide and then shutting it again with a snap, " One forgets a bill of eighteen florins, fifty kreutzers, in an eye-twinkling ! Yes, well. And one loses all his money in yet another ! So ! One may play here many games, sir, and the newest is not this." " You don't suppose," said Lord Acton, whose temper was beginning to rise at the thought of his statement being disbelieved—" you don't suppose, sir, that I came to Homburg with the intention of cheat ing you out of a paltry dinner ?" " Two dinners—with wines of first quality, besides numerous extras," returned the President with imper turbable gravity. " Two, then, if you like, and the whole lot of it ; does that make any difference ?" "To the establishment : yes. To those also who with empty pockets dine. This is a thing which arrives when one money has ! Truly !" " Ach ! mein Gott !" ejaculated the Ober-Kellner. " But I tell you," said Lord Acton, " I had money when I came here, and that I fooled it away at one of your tables.," " A past history that. Others the same tale have told. It comes often. You have here acquaintance ?" "No ; I don't know a soul in the place." " That astonishes me no t. S o I th oug ht i n th e be ginning. You have then a passport ?" " Of course I have." " Might I have the pleasure to see it ?" " I haven't got it about me. • I left it at Frankfort." "So ! Is it possible for you to have a name P" " My name is Acton—Lord Acton." " Very good. Perhaps to the noble Sir Howard Cavendish related ?" " For that matter, I am related both to the Howards and the Cavendishes, though I don't know the man you speak of. But this is all nonsense. What earthly difference can it make to you whether I pay your bill to-night or to-morrow ? We are staying at the Hotel de Russie, on the Zeil ; I must owe you the money till the morning, when my courier shall bring it over. Lady Acton wants to go away ; it's getting late, and if we don't go now we shall miss the last train. That reminds me, by-the-way, that I didn't get a return ticket, Constance. Your waiter, here, can go with us to the station, pay for our places, and see us off. I shall remember him in the morning." " Gott in Himmel !" exclaimed the excitable Ober- Kellner. "Es gefallt mir erstaunlich ! That I like ! I shall pay your places ! I shall see you off! Ach ! Yes ! Off, indeed ! Remember me in the morning ! Ja wohl ! I you the whole of my never-ending life !" " That waiter is quite impayable," said Constance, who appeared to be vastly entertained with the whole business. " I must not forget a word of this. Let him go on, George. If you knock him down too soon, as you seem inclined to do, you will spoil the thing altogether. Oh, how mamma will laugh when I describe the scene !" "So!" said the Haupt-Kursaals-President, "mamma will laugh ? That shall we see ! sir," he continued, turning to Lord Acton. " I have heard your story. Now be so good to attend to me. You come here two whole strangers. You dine, you amuse yourselves, and a long reckoning made, you prepare to depart ; then you say, Oh, I have no money,' and relate losses which, to my understanding, are fables. I demand your passport, without which no one in Ger many travels. You answer it is somewhere. I ask your name. You tell me of Lord Somebody, never perhaps till now heard of. Then again you want to go quickly ; even desire this Kellner's money for your journey. And the joke is so good, that all the while the lady is laughing. All of this," added the Presi dent, assuming a still more magisterial air, " makes it to me transpicuous that you appear in Homburg for a bad purpose, and now what is to be done we know. Karl ! Send for the Polizei !" At this intimation, which ga that looked really serious, Lady seat. " Surely," she said, with a p: be no necessity for this. You c. are the kind of people you are tl nothing about you,George, to gi till we can send over the wretch But no, you never even wear a the diamond guard you gave me. till to-morrow, and let us be go? She tore off the guard as s' eyes glittering with anger like as they met the light, and gave President's glance was fixed upon put the pledge into his hand, 141 own and made a rapid motion ac President started back without ' as quick as thought performed a ment : the next movement—l astonishment of Lady Acton—] foe were shaking hands. " Hier kommt der Polizei," sh( Kellner, rushing in. " There is no occasion for his Haupt -Kursaals -President. " : Miladi's pardon for the inconve. them. Order a carriage. Karl, time to get to the station. To-m have the honour to wait on you you can return this trifle."—( monnaie as he spoke.)—" And p thousand pardons, Madame, tha' wear her ring again." And with more compliments an, than can be told, the President the strangers to the door, and r' scraping till the carriage was oul " What on earth was the T a ' sudden change in this man's ir e , Acton, as soon as they had di' s ' "I am a P.G.M., love." 0 0 " And what's that, George r " Past Grand Master. It strui be a Ma son , so I gave hi m the s] it—and here we are."—Bentley' THE THAMES AS A SOUR (FROM THE LANL THE 2,500,000 human beings within the limits of this metropolis sive apathy in the midst of all may, at any moment, under the la sun, burst forth into pestiferous warnings without end, in contemi we still continue to inhale a poiso: and to drink water the multit inorganic impurities of which aim_ labours of the chymist or microscopist '42 We still do our best to pollute and i logr A l common sewer that noble s t ream whien, 4 or to us health as well as wea lth. But . 1 1 0 PK grosses every thought. The Thames PTili; t i s buoyant tide riches fo r the merc h an t, ww - 0,9.2 are swollen with the fecule n c e o f th e `rg p a, living beings that dwell upon its WIC P 7 , 44 the waste of every manufacture that tvonii utilization. 'What matter P The mere 70 0 5 . 0 44, and the population is spared th e t rou ble a cloaca maxima. But greed and apaiPdag,..." exact from that cloaca m ax i ma a double they have rendered it incapable of &s e t ifiyi sewer can be nothing but a sewer. 1311 4 ill t ili versity besotted and revolting, we persis t from our sewer the---shall we call it vote r .i f drink ; and thousands up on th ousan ds d o ', its seething bosom bent o n b us iness • Wheresoever we go, whatsoever we eat or the circle of London, we fi n d t a i n ted NVi til t s . It is the fate of a Londoner that he cann°,,bir or stay at home with ou t inhaling or l' - 00 8 Thames in some form or o th er . H e s t o res T o . t e,s of it in his tank t o f ermen t into noxiellstitsy breed a hideous f auna a t l e i sure ; he sce-011 returns . through th e s t ree t s, a f ter f u lfilling t 00; $ alimentary, cleansing, and eliminative 1 1 / 5 0r4 to the foul bed w h ence it came ; the gre y r o il i by innumerable l esser cloca must then ser; citizen on his excursions from one p a rt 01 4 tl ' 4171,2,i 1, w t e a turn to S. , Ib ta r Acton hastiii ~,,J d proud air, `` til f 4 ji t °16:.1 a (.. Ad i annot suppv-dosi , ... 4.4, thinking of. ." fl t l A•az ;ive thispersollAl -e lied sum we nil ' ek h-ecatNto.vnichouareeottLncessthdsetheoe.tehxarnislieiSirsittiranitoi,aa6cf ~e,,,,,_, me." he r f . • t she spoke, t s ' ) r , eit Lord Acw" tl/441 on him ; but 4) Lord Acton, taking the,!.:) ic, a correspondwv ki", -her husbali ' if i ts O il . ~„,' is presence,o ' 4 . 0 1 :, N ' I beg 0 riet 4 1, quick woroi 1 0 ~ ,' morrow, Pa o tt, ~ ' re 'k a at Fran li . o . , at (He offered Ye Iptraitywbaef orfeto`'ool q111:4 ./i 1 Ab f tt ilei and " Guten. f, ,, h of the Casino ,4 i , . 1 remained bov i i t of sight. 4 ose, Geor ge, w 4 1 iaviour P" asked , i 31 off. ~ Vil l , uck me that I' s '' , t t 1 sign. He e Itf 'S iscello7 111 ' S XV 44 \ve - BCE 0 fl)P1 " c I lle t 5 CET .) IV gs crowde d 0 ~ , i N ti 1 AiS still liVe °Tits . 'llel th o se ektraeo •tet. 1 influence of 0 • Itili i actiNits. c a pt of past ' ► Ni son-laden stio ,N 1 tudinous orb- N i los t d —t efy the to i ist t ai 41 t