The record-union., 1897-02-21

I went back home with Karl. and be-
fore retiring to my virtuous sofa at
night l offered UP a petition that he
might speedily get his appointment.
Next morning Karl LIT one of my best
cigars, put few in mis- pocket. and
said:
Now, my friend. We will go out
again, and to-day We shall have good
( luck
! With the same kisrnet feeling upon
me l accepted the inevitable, and we
went out to try again We went first
TO a hotel less prstentious than those of
the yesterday, and which was owned
by one man.
Il will see the proprietor" Karl in
formed the clerk.
I'm not so sure that you WILL"
snapped the clerk. Hes out"
| Then L wait for him.
| Indeed. Then you'd better take
room here, as he may not come back
to-day"
AT that moment the proprietor en-
| tered the office Without a blush the
clerk said:
These gentlemen say they want to
see you, sir
Yes, here is my card" interrupted
my friend; L ann the proprietor of the
greatest hotel in Unterberg-here is a
card of ft-and I shall be Burgomaster
of Unterberg when Stamslaus Bauer
dies, and he is already very old"
| 1 stopped his flow of eloquence at
this point by taking up the subject of
our call and explaining what we
wanted. 1 may mention here that
Karl could never understand why the
announcement of his future elevation
to the dignity of Burgomaster did not
profoundly impress the hotel proprie
tors and managers to whom he invar-
iably made 1t. He would say Il shall
be Burgomaster." etc. with an air of
lordly condescension. and evidently
with profound belief that a man with
such an exalted position before him
had only to express a wish and it was
to be gratified.
| 1 explained as briefly and clearly as
1 could the nature of our mission. l
said that Karl would accept any post
where he could learn what he wanted
| to.
Yes" he added, Il will come here
as manager"
But l have manager already" ex-
postulated the proprietor
| "Ach that is nothing. You pay him
much morey for certainly, and 1 will
! come for very little. | will come for
nothing, sir Yes, 1 will come for moth
| ing. That is arranged. / come to-mor-
row and l stay with you two, three
| months. That is all right You must
| tell your manager that he does not
come after to-day. l come in his
| place"
1t was no good trying to check him.
He waived me aside airily when 1 at
! tempted to interfere, and was plainly
so satisfied with himself and the way
he had arranged things that he did not
consider my interference ait all neces-
sary. But the proprietor was not over
come with the generosity of the offer
| and his answer, if not exactly polite
was at any rate unmistakable.
At the next hotel we were taken for
| lunatics, and the proprietor executed
stragetic movement which placed
him in d fortified position behind a big
desk, and armed himself with a heavy
ruler prepared to sell his life dearly.
| Another landlord-a big, red faced,
passionate man, prone to give way to
reprehensible violence, and wearing
very thick boots-kicked US severally
and individually down his front steps.
After that l went out on strike. In
despair 1 introduced Karl to a man l
knew who kept a city restaurant. He
was a nice man, and L valued his
friendship; and 1 feel that I did fool
| ish thing when I alienated his esteem
by thus weakly introducing Karl to
| him. 1 did not mean any harm. l
| OH hat arh ha
give Karl some informal ton and advice
that would assist him. L never dreampt
| that Karl would go to my friends res
| taurant, buttonhole him for hours when
he was especially busy, and drink and
smoke at my friends expense. If there
was one man in London as anxious as
| 1 to see Karl comfortably settled it
was my friend. His customers were
making complaints, 1 believe of want
| of attention, owing to Karl's tact and
| generalship in monopolizing the poor
mans time. At last my restaurant
| friend invented a quarrel with Karl,
| ordered him from the premises and re-
fused 20 accept any apology 1t was
the only way he could get rid of him.
Then Karl began to get discouraged.
He became more despondent every day
and made no secret of the fact that he
held me responsible for all his tribula-
tons Daily he went out in search of
master, ard nightly he came back more
sad, more reproachful. In time he be-
gan to drop hints about being in want
of money
why don't you go home again?"
asked him one day.
'Ach, TO! 1 will kill myself first,
have told everybody in Unterberg that
1 come to London to be in an hotel,
and if 1 go not in an hotel everybody
will find SO ridicule. 1 cannot ever ap-
pear more in Unterberg without 1 have
| first been in an hotel
! He ceased to be particular as to the
precise nature of the berth he would
take. He went to hotels and offered to
cook, carve, sweep, run errands, or
| clean boots and knives.
! He would tell the managers that his
| friend Mr.. (yours truly. would
pay a premium for him If they would
| take him in. He made this statement
on his own responsibility and without
my authority, so that it was not with
out surprise that l received a letter
from one hotelier agreeing to accept
Mr.. Karl Bronner as a sort of pupil ON
payment by me of a premium of ESQ,
and inclosing a form of contract for me
to sign. And, truly 1 was near to
| signing both the agreement and
check for the amount named, for 1
/ felt 1T would almost be worth the
money to be freed from my "old man
of the sea-
But at last relief came Karl burst
| into my raprr, f1anoed ,,,adlv round opg3