was a general commotion of tobacco-puffs, turning up the whites of the eyes, hemming, and lamentations at his gross imprudence. The spinsters of Dort were utterly enraged.

Jan Dirk Peereboom, in the height of his honey-moon, made the reflection that he had married to please himself, not to gratify his friends. He therefore visited with his beloved Coralie all the places of public amusement, and partook of every gaiety that the fascinating city of Paris afforded.

We have in a former page hinted that Monsieur Zephyr Comifo had an extravagant salary for the performances of himself and wife, and this was rendered exceedingly necessary, as both Monsieur and Madame were very expensive in their habits, stage and otherwise.

Madame Coralie figured away three pairs of shoes nightly, and the fact is recorded to introduce a personage who will turn out to be of some importance towards the end of this narrative.

This individual was named Scheck Stalman, and at the period we are describing he was in thriving circumstances at Amsterdam as a ladies' shoe-maker; he was manufacturer to Madame Coralie Comifo.

When Jan Dirk Peereboom first paid his addresses to the enchanting Coralie, she was struck by the resemblance in features between her lover and her cordonnier.

Scheck Stalman had an excellent customer in Madame Coralie; and though he was occasionally obliged to give her considerable credit, yet, when she did pay, she paid most liberally. He was also in the habit of discounting the notes of hand of Monsieur Comifo, at a large rate per cent., which the improvidence of the dancer rendered necessary; Stalman was therefore a very useful person to Madame, and knew exactly the length of her foot.

a refinement of cruelty to recommend it that could only have entered the imagination of a Dutch or a China man.

Scheck Stalman was condemned to seven years' imprisonment, and to live without salt to his food.

The consequence of this sentence to the unhappy beings who have the misfortune to fall under it is that they become dreadfully infested with worms.

Some, whose obstinate spirits could never be subdued, used in bravado and ridicule to call this punishment the Diet of Worms.

As we cannot help Scheck Stalman in his predicament, however large the bump of benevolence may be on our cranium, there he must remain, and return we to Jan Dirk Peereboom and his bride.

The Dort auctioneer, Peter Bogerman, after writing several letters of remonstrance to Jan Dirk, but without any avail, proceeded slowly, but surely, to sell the effects to the very best advantage; but the worthy agent, and nearly all the town of Dort, were sore on account of Jan Dirk Peereboom's marriage; for his family had been mixed up with an extraordinary event, well recorded in the province. This event has been variously related; and at the period it occurred it created so great a sensation, that the money coined at the mint of the city (pieces of which are to be seen to this day), dollars, stivers, and doights, bore the impress of a milkmaid milking a cow.

Well, what was the occasion of this? Why, the Spaniards, under the cruel Duke of Alva, undertook suddenly to surprise the town of Dort. They made forced marches in the night, and arriving within five miles of the city, 3500 soldiers were placed in ambush, to wait for an opportunity to attack.

usual, and singing merrily; when they had completed their task, they returned unmolested with their pails to the farm. Elizabeth Peereboom now went to Booser, and related what she had seen. He was sorely alarmed, but took her with him on a horse to Dort, where he aroused one of the burgomasters, who lost no time in sending for the aid of a force

from Rotterdam. The government then commanded the sluices to be opened, which speedily laid under water the ground on which the Spaniards were in ambush, and a great number of them were drowned. The timely information and presence of mind of Elizabeth Peereboom thus saved the city, and she was afterwards munificently rewarded with a handsome annuity, not only on her own life, but to her heirs for ever.

We have made this digression, because Jan Dirk Peereboom, being a descendant of the noble-spirited milkmaid, was in the present receipt of this same annuity, which made him care the less about giving up his timber trade.

All for a time went on gaily with the newmarried couple, but at length the husband began to discover that he was dragged too often to the theatres in the evenings, and he grew sick of the eternal pirouetting of the various corps de ballet, particularly as Madame criticized every dancer with much severity, though she insisted on seeing them perform. The mornings of Jan Dirk Peereboom began now to wear heavily for the want of his counting-house and timber-yard. He had relinquished his accustomed employ.

"A want of occupation is not rest,

A mind quite vacant is a mind distress'd." His circulation of blood became sluggish, his spirits sunk, he grew pettish and fretful; he brooded over every little vexation or inconvenience; he not only increased his real, but conjured up imaginary evils, and got no sympathy with any one in either; his original and grand resource in his bachelorship, under any calamity, was a pipe of tobacco; and of this, under his marriage articles, he was deprived.

Jan Dirk Peereboom certainly preferred the smell of his late pipe to all the fragrant and subtle Parisian perfumes in which his wife delighted.

Jan Dirk thought he would endeavour to pave the way to resume, with Madame's permission, his favourite recreation, so he turned over in his mind as to how he should introduce the subject of tobacco; and as they were sitting together, he suddenly said,

"Did I ever tell you a curious thing that happened to a nephew of mine, of my own name, whom I sent out as a supercargo to Batavia, from whence he was to proceed with a freight to Japan?"

"Never, my dear," replied Madame Coralie Peereboom, yawning.

"Don't let it be a very long story, mon ami,' again yawned the lady.

This was a discouraging commencement, but Jan was a Hollander, and possessed perseverance; if he was flung in a ditch, he could raise an embankment.

"If I tire you, Coralie, with my relation," said he, "you can but stop me."

"What relation was he?" asked Madame. "My nephew, Jinks Peereboom," continued Jan, "a staid demure clerk, who had been brought up with a proper respect for his superiors, and with a knowledge of what is due from man to man in any part of the globe; and under his immediate charge was placed a valuable commodity already imported from our other settlements, a ton of tobacco."

'Ah, mon Dieu!" exclaimed Coralie, "don't mention that filthy drug, which would poison our apartments, and tincture, with its odious smell, our linen,-nay, our food; and, moreover, our poor poodle Mouton cannot endure it; it positively makes his dear eyes water."

Jan Dirk perceived that he had not made much progress: he however persevered. "Well, Jinks Peereboom

"Who did you say he was?" inquired Madame, languidly.

"My nephew. Well the youth conducted himself with credit, arrived at Samarang——' "Where is that, dear? in Africa?" asked Coralie.

"No, my love, Asia."

"And where is Asia?" said Coralie, with a prodigious yawn; "somewhere in America, I suppose?"

The imperturbable Dutchman was aroused to a smile by this remark; but he felt somewhat of a superiority, for the first time, that he exceeded his wife in geographical knowledge. He did not think it worth while to discompose her good opinion of herself by any remark on her profound ignorance, but continued his narrative.

"When Jinks Peereboom discharged his cargo at Batavia, the ship was newly freighted with Dutch goods and the TOBACCO for Japan-

66

Why do you lay that stress on tobacco, my dear?" said Coralie.

'Because," replied Jan Dirk, "I consider it to be the most cordial, cheering, and valuable vegetable production supplied by nature. I am sure it saved Jinks Peereboom's life. I have said the lad was well brought up, and he had been informed that the Japanese were a

"As he landed, these two Japanese chamberlains saluted him very respectfully, but Jinks was rather surprised, on casually turning round, to observe that one of them had placed his white wand against his back from the ground, as if taking his altitude; however, he said nothing until they arrived at the Dutch governor's dwelling. The governor was a rough Hollander, who hated anything like ceremony; and when, after dinner, Jinks was expressing his extreme satisfaction at the marks of respect with which he had been received on his landing by the chamberlains with their wands of office, the Dutch governor, albeit not a laughing man, roared outright in Jinks' face.

"Ha! ha! ha! chamberlains, indeed! Bless your simplicity, young man! Ha! ha! ha!' "Jinks could not comprehend the governor, who soon explained,—

"Are you not aware-ha! ha! ha!—that this part of the world is most unhealthy in climate for Europeans?-not one constitution in ten can resist it. The Japanese always have an eye to business; those chamberlains, as you call them,-ha! ha! ha!—are the undertakers here, and they took the earliest opportunity on your arrival to measure you for your coffin! Ha! ha! ha!'

"Jinks Peereboom was aghast, but became somewhat relieved by the governor asking him if he had brought plenty of tobacco. Jinks replied in the affirmative.

"Then,' said the governor, 'your only chance is to smoke morning, noon, and night, as I do.""

"The filthy wretches!" exclaimed Coralie: in fact, the lady was as much exasperated against the Indian weed as James the First and sapient, of "Counter-blast" memory.

Jan Dirk Peereboom now positively pined in the absence of his pipe. He was a man of his word, and he had promised to abandon the luxury in his wife's presence. He had held out now some months, but he could no longer resist. One day a party was made up, consisting of several artistes of the Grand Opera, to go to St. Cloud, on a sort of pic-nic recreation, and Mynheer and Madame Peereboom were included in the invitation. Jan Dirk, who for

"Now I will go and make a day of it!"

He had promised not to smoke at home, but that was no reason why he might not take a whiff of tobacco abroad; so he repaired to the neighbourhood of the Palais Royal, where he was not long in scenting out the Estaminet d'Hollande, which he briskly entered, and was speedily furnished with the objects of his desire -tobacco and an Amsterdam gazette. The room was so full of smoke, reeking from the lips and the bowls of the pipes of the habitués, that he could scarcely discern a feature in the company; but each frequenter was enjoying himself, and not caring a straw for any one else.

Here Jan Dirk Peereboom filled his pipe again and again without intermission, until he had whiffed off three dozen replenishments, with a liquid accompaniment of veritable Schiedam, by way of atonement for the time he had lost since his wedding-day. He resumed his accustomed placidity, and glanced, as well as the clouds of smoke permitted, at the Amsterdam gazette, when his eye caught an advertentie:

"Jinks Peereboom begs leave to acquaint his friends

and the public that he has commenced the business of general broker at Dort on his own account, and trusts that his long experience in the house of Messrs. Clarenbach and Vonte, as well as in the service of his uncle

Jan Dirk Peereboom, will enable him to do justice to those friends who may be pleased to favour him with their commands.

"His office is established at No. 14 west side of the

Great Canal Street, where all orders will meet with

immediate attention."

Jan Dirk sighed as he read the modest advertisement of his nephew, and inwardly wished that he himself had put forth such an announcement to the public. Another newspaper, the Amsterdam Courant, was lying on a table, around which sat three Dutch merchants, smoking at each other like rival steam-boats. In this paper was a fac-simile of young Jinks'

this party, but he had the infinite mortification to listen to a dialogue broken all to bits by pipe-puffs, to the following effect:

1st Smoker."I see by this paper that Peereboom the younger is commencing business. (Puff, puff.)

2d Smoker. "What a confounded ass his uncle Jan Dirk made of himself by marrying that French dancer! Three years hence, he will not have a stiver to bless himself with." (A huge puff.)

3d Smoker.-"Oh! fool as Jan Dirk has been, he knows how to take care of his money!" (Puff.)

2d Smoker. "Then he goes the right way about it, for this very morning I saw his wife with a gay party of people in three carriages, apparently going out of town for a fête for the day."

1st Smoker. (Puffs.)

"That is not done for nothing."

2d Smoker.-"His credit is gone at Dort, although he must still be rich, besides being the holder of the milkmaid's annuity; and, I warrant me, he will soon melt down his guilders in the bank of Amsterdam."

These remarks made Jan Dirk Peereboom feel very uncomfortable, and he was reluctant to discover himself, after having been stigmatized as an ass and fool, without resenting it; he in his own defence puffed up such a cloud of smoke that he became invisible; for, indeed, now he began to think that he had done rather a weak thing.

After the Dutch merchants had quitted the estaminet, Jan Dirk ventured to go home, where, subsequent to some uneasy reflections, he reclined himself at full length on a sofa, and went fast asleep. When Madame Coralie Peereboom returned from her country excursion, having inhaled during the whole day the pure air of St. Cloud, her senses were mightily annoyed by the strong odour of odious tobacco (and the French tobacco being a government monopoly, it is notoriously the worst on the face of the globe). .

"O mon Dieu!" she exclaimed as she entered, "these fumes will annihilate me! What has happened during my absence?"

And then she discovered Jan Dirk snoring heavily. She shook him up briskly, but he was not at all inclined to stir; and under the influence of the smoking, the Schiedam, and his wounded feelings, as well as the peculiar irritability which most persons have felt at certain periods at being waked from a nap, he, for the first time since his marriage, exhibited

ture of the climate of Holland has, as a matter of course, an effect on the national character, and incline to produce phlegmatic disposition both of body and mind. And yet a Dutchman is irascible, especially if heated with liquor. Therefore, when Coralie, shaking his arm, in a shrill tone of voice demanded where he had been, he replied,

"What is that to you?"

"Jan Dirk, what have you been about?" Mynheer Peereboom answered with a hiccup,

"Why do you expect I should tell you when I don't know myself?"

"Indeed, sir!" said Coralie impatiently, "I see no reason why I should not ask you."

"If women were to always have their wills," grunted Jan Dirk, "the world would be rarely governed!"

"How, what is all this?" exclaimed Madame, in a tone of utter surprise, "did you not marry me for love?"

"Yes, and you married me for money; so you have your reward, and I have mine!" "What is it that now offends you?" asked Coralie, a little subdued.

Jan Dirk answered gloomily, "Two clergymen!"

"What, in the name of Heaven, have they done to you?" inquired Madame.

"They married me!" groaned Dirk,-"fettered me in both churches-Catholic and Protestant;—I find that I have been a great fool!” "I am glad to observe that you have some discernment," tartly replied Coralie; and she indignantly left the room, told her fille de chambre that Monsieur had unaccountably come home in a state of intoxication, and that she intended to lock herself in her chamber, and to see him no more that night.

Jan Dirk stretched himself on the sofa, and presently fell into a profound slumber. Here was the first open matrimonial dispute. Coralie could scarce believe what she heard, for, with a considerable portion of French vanity, she imagined that her husband was devoted in his affection for her, though she was aware that she had never loved him.

The obstinate nature of Jan Dirk Peereboorn would not permit him to make any concession in the morning, although the facile French woman gave every opportunity; so that the slight wound, which might have been healed by the soothing bandage of common sense and good temper, gradually grew more and more inflamed, until it created a constant petulance in the wife and moody brutality in the husband,

And in this miserable way did they pass eight years, occasionally travelling from place to place, occasionally residing in Paris. Coralie, to dissipate thought, dissipated her own money, over which Jan Dirk had no control, while Mynheer Peereboom, whenever he could find an opportunity, steeped his cares in Schiedam, cognac, and tobacco.

This ill-paired couple were now, for the first time in their lives, in the agreeable city of Aix-la-Chapelle, with a view of the benefit that Jan Dirk Peereboom might derive from the mineral waters; for, from his inebriated habits, his health had commenced visibly to decline: he was about fifteen years older than Coralie. But all the bathing in the emperor's spring, and all the drinking the sulphureous waters of a temperature of about 143° Fahrenheit, proved of no avail to Jan Dirk.

One day as the man and wife were being driven in a carriage east of Aix-la-Chapelle, to the neighbouring little town of Burtschied, Coralie, looking out of the window, beheld a face she well remembered, although she had not seen its owner for years.

The said owner was standing at the door of a mean-looking shop, overhung with one antiquely built story. The wares in the window, though few, did not accord with the appearance of the warehouse, being of superior form and workmanship. Madame Coralie recognized Scheck Stalman; but oh, how altered in appearance! instead of the bustling, well-fed, rich, supercilious cordonnier, who once had all the better part of the ladies of Amsterdam on his books, peered from the portal, as if almost ashamed to breathe fresh air (probably because he had been of late years unaccustomed to it), the prison-discharged criminal, who had been sentenced to live on food without salt, with a pale cadaverous countenance furrowed with the traces of care and suffering. Madame Peereboom could not resist remarking that the indisposition that had reduced her husband still rendered their features as much alike as when he and Stalman were both in robust health. She took an after opportunity to drive over alone to Burtschied, when she entered the little shop, and, to the surprise of Stalman, introduced herself, and gave him an order to supply her with her chaussure. He expressed himself in terms of gratitude at this unexpected visit and employ. From old associations, Madame Coralie Peereboom did Stalman, in his reduced circumstances, other charitable kindnesses.

Jan Dirk Peereboom decayed gradually, and, being of a superstitious turn of mind, added

to his ailments of body, he beckoned Coralie to his bedside, and, in great confidence, communicated to her that he had heard, during the preceding night, continually the deathwatch clicking. The study of entomology at this period being very little attended to, the terror that this noise inflicted upon hypochondriac persons frequently caused the event imagined to be prognosticated. Madame Peereboom could not instil any sort of confidence into her husband by laughing at the affair; and he lay restless and oppressed, listening to the heart-sickening tick of a small beetle, that was, in its own mode of merriment, giving an affectionate call to its female companion.

A few days more passed, and Jan Dirk rapidly declined. He then told Coralie that he had not made any will!

The physician of Aix-la-Chapelle who attended was a perfect stranger to them, and as he had to visit a vast number of equally perfect strangers who resorted to Aix-la-Chapelle when it was too late to render them the slightest professional service, he was quite contented to receive his fees, without being very particular as to further intimacy or any inquiries into affairs.

Madame Peereboom became exceedingly anxious when she heard that Jan Dirk was likely to die intestate; she was aware that she never would have any claim to the "Milkmaid's Annuity," as that must, by the original grant, descend to the next male akin bearing the name of Peereboom; but still, with Jan Dirk's saving habits latterly, there must be a considerable sum in the bank of Amsterdam. Coralie had no one to advise with her she was at a distance even from her dancing friends, and while she was reflecting as to how she should act, the Angel of Death suddenly arrested the body and soul of her husband.

After the first shock was over, she resumed her presence of mind. She felt she was utterly ruined to all intents and purposes, as no will had been made in her favour; she racked her theatrical brains, which, by the way, had often assisted the stage inventions of her former husband, to devise a scheme by which she might secure to herself the property of her second. At length she hit upon a notion which she imagined would prove infallible.

Coralie was a woman of adventurous character, and had to contend with difficulty from early youth. The first thing she did was to refrain from giving any alarm in the readyfurnished house in which they resided; it was evening, and she securely locked up the bedchamber door, wherein poor Jan Dirk Peereboom