"And now what is the next place that we shall come to?" said Rollo to Mr. George one morning after they had been some days in Rotterdam.

"The Hague," replied Mr. George.

"Ah, yes," said Rollo, "that is the capital. We shall stop there a good while I suppose, because it is the capital."

"No," said Mr. George, "I shall go through it just as quick as I can for that very reason. I have a great mind not to stop there at all."

"Why, uncle George!" exclaimed Rollo, surprised, "what do you mean by that?"

"Why, the Hague," rejoined Mr. George, "is the place where the king lives, and the princes, and the foreign ambassadors, and all the fashionable people; and there will be nothing to see there, I expect, but palaces, and picture galleries, and handsome streets, and such things, all of which we can see more of and better in Paris or London."

"Still we want to see what sort of a place the Hague is," said Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "and I expect to do that in a very short time, and then I shall go on to Haarlem, where they have had such a time with their pumping."

Mr. George and Rollo packed up their valise, paid their bill at the hotel, and set off for the station.

"Let's go to the station by water," said Rollo.

"Well," said Mr. George, "if you will engage a boat."

"I know a place not far from here where there is a boat station," said Rollo.

So Rollo led the way until they came to a bridge, and there, by the side of the bridge, were some stairs leading down to the water. There were several boats lying at the foot of the stairs, and boatmen near, who all called out in Dutch, "Do you want a boat?" At least that was what Rollo supposed they said, though, of course, he could not understand their language. Rollo walked down the steps, and got into one of the boats, and Mr. George followed him.

"I can't speak Dutch," said Rollo to the boatman, "but that is the way we want to go." So saying, Rollo pointed in the direction which led towards the station. The man did not understand a word that Rollo had said; but still, by hearing it, he learned the fact that Rollo did not speak the language of the country, and by his signs he knew that he must go the way that he pointed. So he began to row the boat along.

"We cannot go quite to the station by the boat," said Rollo, "but we can go pretty near it, and we can walk the rest of the way."

"How will you find out the way," asked Mr. George, "through all these canals?"

"I can tell by the map," said Rollo.

So Rollo sat down on a seat at the stern of the boat, and taking out his map, which was printed on a pocket handkerchief, he spread it on his knee, and began to study out the canals.

"There," said he, "we are going along this canal, now; and there, a little way ahead from here, is a bridge that we shall go under. Then we shall make a turn," continued Rollo, still studying his map. "We shall have to go a very round-about way; but that is no matter."

So they went on, Rollo at each turn pointing to the boatman which way he was to go. Sometimes the boat was stopped for a time by a jam in the boats and vessels before it, as a hack might be stopped in Broadway in New York. Sometimes it went under bridges, and sometimes through dark archways, where Rollo could hear carriages rumbling over his head in the streets above.

At length the boat reached the point which Rollo thought was nearest to the station; and the man, at a signal which Rollo gave him, stopped at some steps. Rollo paid the fare by holding out a handful of money in his hand, and letting the man take what was right, watching him, however, to see that he did not take too much.

Then Mr. George and Rollo both went ashore, and walked the rest of the way to the station.

In the European railroad stations there are different waiting rooms for the different classes of travellers. Mr. George sometimes took second class carriages, and sometimes first. For short distances he generally went first class, and as it was only a few miles to the Hague from Rotterdam, he now went into the first class waiting room. There was a counter for refreshment in one corner of the room, and some sofas along the sides. Mr. George sat down upon one of the sofas, putting his valise on the floor at the end of it. Rollo said that he would go out and take a little walk around the station, for it was yet half an hour before the train was to go.

In a few minutes after Rollo had gone, there came to the door, among other carriages, one from which Mr. George, to his great surprise, saw Mr. and Mrs. Parkman get out. Mr. George's first thought was to go out by another door, and make his escape. But he checked this impulse, saying to himself,

"It would be very ungenerous in me to abandon my old friend in his misfortune; so I will stay."

Mr. Parkman seemed very much delighted, as well as surprised, to see Mr. George again; and Mrs. Parkman gave him quite a cordial greeting, although she half suspected that Mr. George did not like her very well.

Mr. George asked her how she liked Holland, so far as she had seen it.

"Not much," said she. "The towns are not pretty. The streets are all full of canals, and there is nothing to be seen but boats and ships. And what ugly wooden shoes they wear. Did you ever see any thing so ugly in all your life?"

"They look pretty big and clumsy," said Mr. George, "I must admit; but it amuses me to see them."

"At the Hague I expect to find something worth seeing," continued Mrs. Parkman. "That's where the king and all the great people live, and all the foreign ambassadors. If William had only got letters of introduction to some of them! He might have got them just as well as not. Our minister at London would have given him some if he had asked for them. But he said he did not like to ask for them."

"Strange!" said Mr. George.

"Yes," rejoined Mrs. Parkman, "I think it is not only strange, but foolish. I want to go to some of the parties at the Hague, but we can't stop. William says we can only give one day to the Hague."

"O, you can do it up quite well in one day," said Mr. George.

"If you would only go with us and show us how to do it," said Mrs. Parkman.

"Yes," said Mr. Parkman. "Do, George. Go with us. Join us for one day. I'll put the whole party entirely under your command, and you shall have every thing your own way."

Mr. George did not know what to reply to this proposition. At last he said that he would go and find Rollo, and consult him on the subject, and if Rollo approved of it they would consent to the arrangement.

Mrs. Parkman laughed at hearing this. "Why," said she, "is it possible that you are under that boy's direction?"

"Not exactly that," said Mr. George. "But then he is my travelling companion, and it is not right for one person, in such a case, to make any great change in the plan without at least first hearing what the other has to say about it."

"That's very true," replied Mrs. Parkman. "Do you hear that, William? You must remember that when you are going to change the plans without asking my consent."

Mrs. Parkman said this in a good-natured way, as if she meant it in joke. It was one of those cases where people say what they wish to have considered as meant in a joke, but to be taken in earnest.

Mr. George went out to look for Rollo. He found him lying on the grass by the side of a small canal which flowed through the grounds, and reaching down to the water to gather some curious little plants that were growing upon it. Mr. George informed him that Mr. and Mrs. Parkman were at the station, and that they had proposed that he himself and Rollo should join their party in seeing the Hague.

"And I suppose you don't want to do it," said Rollo.

"Why, yes," said Mr. George, "I've taken a notion to accept the proposal if you like it. We'll then do the Hague in style, and I shall get back into Mrs. Parkman's good graces. Then we will bid them good by, and after that you and I will travel on in our own way."

"Well," said Rollo, "I agree to it."

Mr. George accordingly went back into the station, and told Mr. and Mrs. Parkman that he and Rollo would accept their invitation, and join with them in seeing what there was in the Hague.

"And then, after that," said Mr. George, "we shall come back to Delft, while you go on to Amsterdam."

"I wish you would go on with us," said Mr. Parkman.

"We can't do that very well," said Mr. George. "We want to try a Dutch canal once, and a good place to try it is in going from the Hague to Delft. It is only about four or five miles. We are going there by the canal boat, and then coming back on foot."

Mr. George had taken care in planning the course which he and Rollo were to pursue after leaving the Hague, to contrive an expedition which he was very sure Mrs. Parkman would not wish to join in.

"O, Mr. George!" she exclaimed, "what pleasure can there be in going on a canal?"

"Why, the canal boats are so funny!" said Rollo. "And then we see such curious little places all along the banks of them, and we meet so many boats, carrying all sorts of things."

"I don't think it would be very agreeable for a lady," said Mr. George; "but Rollo and I thought we should like to try it."

Just at this moment the door leading to the platform opened, and a man dressed in a sort of uniform, denoting that he was an officer of the railroad, called out in Dutch that the train was coming. The ladies and gentlemen that were assembled in the waiting room immediately took up their bags and bundles, and went out upon the platform. As they went out, Mr. George, in passing the man in uniform, slipped a piece of money into his hand, and said to him in an under tone, first in French and then in English,—

"A good seat by a window for this lady."

The officer received the money, made a bow of assent, and immediately seemed to take the whole party under his charge. When the train arrived, and had stopped before the place, there was a great crowd among the new passengers to get in and procure seats. The officer beckoned to Mr. George to follow him, but Mrs. Parkman seemed disposed to go another way. She was looking eagerly about here and there among the carriages, as if the responsibility of finding seats for the party devolved upon her.

"What shall we do?" said she. "The cars are all full."

"Leave it to me," said Mr. George to her in an under tone. "Leave it entirely to me. You'll see presently."

The officer, finding the carriages generally full, said to Mr. George, in French, "Wait a moment, sir." So Mr. George said to the rest of the party—

"We will all stand quietly here. He'll come to us presently."

"Yes," said Mrs. Parkman, "when all the seats are taken. We shan't get seats at all, William."

"You'll see," said Mr. George.

In a moment more the officer came to the party, and bowing respectfully to Mrs. Parkman, he said,

"Now, madam."

He took out a key from his pocket, and unlocked the door of a carriage which had not before been opened, and standing aside, he bowed to let Mrs. Parkman pass.

Mrs. Parkman was delighted. There was nobody in the carriage, and so she had her choice of the seats. She chose one next the window on the farther side. Her husband took the seat opposite to her.

"Ah!" said she, with a tone of great satisfaction, "how nice this is! And what a gentlemanly conductor! I never had the conductor treat me so politely in my life."

Mrs. Parkman was put in excellent humor by this incident, and she said, towards the end of the journey, that she should have had a delightful ride if the country had not been so flat and uninteresting. To Mr. George and Rollo, who sat at the other window, it appeared extremely interesting, there was so much that was curious and novel to be seen. The immense green fields, with herds of cattle and flocks of sheep feeding every where, and separated from each other by straight and narrow canals instead of fences; the boats passing to and fro, loaded with produce; the little bridges built over these canals here and there, for the foot paths, with the gates across them to keep the cattle from going over; the long road ways raised upon dikes, and bordered by quadruple rows of ancient and venerable trees, stretching to a boundless distance across the plains; and now and then a wide canal, with large boats or vessels passing to and fro,—these and a multitude of other such sights, to be seen in no other country in the world, occupied their attention all the time, and kept them constantly amused.

At length the train arrived at the station for the Hague, and the whole party descended from the carriage.

"Now, William," said Mr. George, "give me the ticket for your trunk, and you yourself take Mrs. Parkman into the waiting room and wait till I come."

"No," said Mr. Parkman, "I cannot let you take that trouble."

"Certainly," said Mr. George. "You said that I should have the entire command. Give me the ticket."

So Mr. Parkman gave him the ticket, and Mr. George went out. Rollo remained with Mr. and Mrs. Parkman. In a few minutes Mr. George returned, and said that the carriage was ready. They all went to the door, and there they found a carriage waiting, with Mr. and Mrs. Parkman's trunk upon the top of it. A man was holding the door open for the party to get in. As soon as they had all entered, Mr. George put a few coppers into the hand of the man at the door, and said to him,

"Hotel Belview."[4]

"Hotel Belview!" shouted the man to the coachman. On hearing this command the coachman drove on.

The road that led into the town lay along the banks of a canal, and after going about half a mile in this direction, the horses turned and went over a bridge. They were now in the heart of the town, but the party could not see much, for the night was coming on and the sky was cloudy. It was cold, too, and Mrs. Parkman wished to have the windows closed. The carriage went along a narrow street, crossing bridges occasionally, until at length it came to a region of palaces, and parks, and grounds beautifully ornamented. Finally it stopped before a large and very handsome hotel. The hotel stood in a street which had large and beautiful houses and gardens on one side, and an open park, with deer feeding on the borders of a canal, on the other.

Two or three very nicely dressed servants came out when the carriage stopped, and opened the door of it in a very assiduous and deferential manner.

"Wait here in the carriage," said Mr. George, "till I come."

So saying, he himself descended from the carriage, and went into the house, followed by two of the waiters that had come to the door.

In about two minutes he came out again.

"Yes," said he to Mrs. Parkman, "I think you will like the rooms."

So saying, he helped Mrs. Parkman out of the carriage, and gave her his arm to conduct her into the house. At the same time he said to one of the waiters,—

"See that every thing is taken out of the carriage, and pay the coachman."

"Very well, sir," said the waiter.

Mr. George led Mrs. Parkman up a broad and handsome staircase. He was preceded by one waiter and followed by two others. These waiters had taken every thing from the hands of the party, especially from Mrs. Parkman, so that they were loaded with bags, cloaks, and umbrellas, while the travellers themselves had nothing to carry.

At the head of the staircase the waiter, who was in advance, opened a door which led to a large drawing room or parlor, which was very handsomely decorated and furnished. The windows were large, and they looked out upon a handsome garden, though it was now too dark to see it very distinctly.

As Mrs. Parkman turned round again, after trying to look out at the window, she saw a second waiter coming into the room, bringing with him two tall wax candles in silver candlesticks. The candles had just been lighted. The waiter placed them on the table, and then retired.

"And now," said Mr. George to the other waiter, "we want a good fire made here, and then let us have dinner as soon as you can."

"Very well, sir," replied the waiter; and so saying he bowed respectfully and retired.

A neatly-dressed young woman, in a very picturesque and pretty cap, had come into the room with the party, and while Mr. George had been ordering the fire and the dinner, she had shown Mrs. Parkman to her bedroom, which was a beautiful and richly furnished room with two single beds in it, opening out of the parlor. On the other side of the parlor was another bedroom, also with two beds in it, for Mr. George and Rollo.[5]

Mr. and Mrs. Parkman remained in their room for a time, and when they came out they found the table set for dinner, and a very pleasant fire burning in the grate.

"Mr. George," said she, "I wish we had you to make arrangements for us all the time."

"It would be a very pleasant duty," said Mr. George. "You are so easily satisfied."

Mrs. Parkman seemed much pleased with this compliment. She did not for a moment doubt that she fully deserved it.

About eight o'clock that evening, Mr. George asked Mrs. Parkman at what time she would like to have breakfast the next morning.

"At any time you please," said she; "that is, if it is not too early."

"How would half past nine do?" asked Mr. George.

"I think that will do very well," said Mrs. Parkman.

"We will say ten, if you prefer," said Mr. George.

"O, no," said she, "half past nine will do very well."

So Mr. George rang the bell, and when the waiter came, he ordered a sumptuous breakfast, consisting of beefsteaks, hot rolls, coffee, omelet, and every thing else that he could think of that was good, and directed the waiter to have it ready at half past nine.

"I shall also want a carriage and a pair of horses to-morrow," continued Mr. George, "and a commissioner."

"Very well, sir," said the waiter; "and what time shall you wish for the carriage?"

"What time, Mrs. Parkman?" repeated Mr. George, turning to the lady. "Shall you be ready by half past ten to go out and see the town?"

"Yes," said Mrs. Parkman, "that will be a very good time."

"Very well, sir," said the waiter; and he bowed and retired.

The next morning, when the different members of the party came out into the breakfast room, they found the table set for breakfast. At half past nine all were ready except Mrs. Parkman. She sent word by her husband that she would come out in a few minutes.

"There is no hurry," said Mr. George. "It will be time enough to have breakfast when she comes."

In about fifteen minutes she came. Mr. George asked her very politely how she had spent the night; and after she had sat a few minutes talking by the fire, he said that they would have breakfast whenever she wished.

"Yes," said she, "I am ready any time. Indeed, I was afraid that I should be late, and keep you waiting. I am very glad that I am in season."

So Mr. George rang the bell; when the waiter came, he ordered breakfast to be brought up.

While the party were at breakfast, a very nicely-dressed waiter, with a white napkin over his arm, stood behind Mrs. Parkman's chair, and evinced a great deal of alertness and alacrity in offering her every thing that she required. When the breakfast was nearly finished, Mr. George turned to him and said,—

"Is the commissioner ready, John, who is to go with us to-day?"

"Yes, sir," said the waiter.

"I wish you to go down and send him up," said Mr. George.

So the waiter went down stairs to find the commissioner, and while he was gone Mr. George took out a pencil and paper from his pocket.

"I am going to ask him," said Mr. George to Mrs. Parkman, "what there is to be seen here, and to make a list of the places; and then we will go and see them all, or you can make a selection, just as you please."

"Very well," said Mrs. Parkman. "I should like that."

Accordingly, when the commissioner came in, Mr. George asked him to name, in succession, the various objects of interest usually visited by travellers coming to the Hague; and as he named them, Mr. George questioned him respecting them, so as to enable Mrs. Parkman to obtain a somewhat definite idea of what they were. The commissioner enumerated a variety of places to be seen, such as the public museum of painting, several private museums, the old palace, the new palace, two or three churches, the town hall, and various other sights which tourists, arriving at the Hague, usually like to view. Mr. George made a list of all these, and opposite to each he marked the time which the commissioner said would be required to see it well. After completing this list, he said,—

"And there is a great watering place on the sea shore, not far from this, I believe."

"Yes, sir," said the commissioner, "about three miles."

"Is it a pleasant ride there?" asked Mr. George.

"Yes, sir," replied the commissioner. "It is a very pleasant ride. You can go one way and return another. It is a very fashionable place. The queen and the princesses go there every summer."

"Very well; it takes about two hours and a half, I suppose, to go there and return," said Mr. George.

"Yes, sir," said the commissioner.

"Very well," said Mr. George. "Have the carriage ready in—— Shall we say half an hour, Mrs. Parkman? Shall you be ready in half an hour?"

Mrs. Parkman said that she should be ready in half an hour, and so Mr. George appointed that time, and then the commissioner went away.

Mr. George added up all the periods of time that the commissioner had said would be required for the several sights, and found that there would be time for them to see the whole, and yet be ready for the afternoon train for Amsterdam, where Mr. and Mrs. Parkman were going next. So Mrs. Parkman concluded not to omit any from the list, but to go and see the whole.

In half an hour the carriage was at the door, and in ten or fifteen minutes afterwards Mrs. Parkman was ready. Just before they went, Mr. George rang the bell again, and called for the bill, requesting the waiter to see that every thing was charged—carriage, servants, commissioner, and all. When it came, Mr. Parkman took out his purse, expecting to pay it himself, but Mr. George took out his purse too.

"The amount," said Mr. George, looking at the footing of the bill, "is forty-five guilders and some cents. Your share is, say twenty-two guilders and a half."

"No, indeed," said Mr. Parkman. "My share is the exact footing of the bill. You have nothing to do with this payment."

"Yes," said Mr. George. "I have just one half to pay for Rollo and me. We are four in all, and Rollo and I are two."

Mr. Parkman seemed extremely unwilling to allow Mr. George to pay any thing at all; but Mr. George insisted upon it, and so the bill was paid by a joint contribution.

All this time the carriage was ready at the door, and the gentlemen, attended by two or three waiters, conducted Mrs. Parkman down to the door. The party then drove, in succession, to the various places which the commissioner had enumerated. There were museums consisting of a great many rooms filled with paintings, and palaces, where they were shown up grand staircases, and through long corridors, and into suites of elegant apartments, and churches, and beautiful parks and gardens, and a bazaar filled with curiosities from China and Japan, and a great many other similar places. Mr. George paid very particular attention to Mrs. Parkman during the whole time, and made every effort to anticipate and comply with her wishes in all respects. In one case, indeed, I think he went too far in this compliance, and the result was to mortify her not a little. It was in one of the museums of paintings. Mrs. Parkman, like other ladies of a similar character to hers, always wanted to go where she could not go, and to see what she could not see. If, when she came into a town, she heard of any place to which, for any reason, it was difficult to obtain admission, that was the very place of all others that she wished most to see; and if, in any museum, or palace, or library that she went into, there were two doors open and one shut, she would neglect the open ones, and make directly to the one that was shut, and ask to know what there was there. I do not know as there was any thing particularly blameworthy in this. On the contrary, such a feeling may be considered, in some respects, a very natural one in a lady. But, nevertheless, when it manifests itself in a decided form, it makes the lady a very uncomfortable and vexatious companion to the gentleman who has her under his care.

In one of the rooms where our party went in the museum of paintings, there was a door near one corner that was shut. All the other doors—those which communicated with the several apartments where the pictures were hung—were open. As soon as Mrs. Parkman came in sight of the closed door, she pointed to it and said,—

"I wonder what there is in that room. I suppose it is something very choice. I wish we could get in."

Mr. Parkman paid, at first, no attention to this request, but continued to look at the pictures around him.

"I wish you would ask some of the attendants," she continued, "whether we cannot go into that room."

"O, no," replied her husband. "If it was any thing that it was intended we should see, the door would be open. The fact that the door is shut is notice enough that, we are not to go in there."

"I'm convinced there are some choice pictures in there," said Mrs. Parkman; "something that they do not show to every body. Mr. George, I wish you would see if you can't find out some way to get in."

"Certainly," said Mr. George, "I will try."

So Mr. George walked along towards one of the attendants, whom he saw in another part of the room,—putting his hand in his pocket as he went, to feel for a piece of money. He put the piece of money into the attendant's hand, and then began to talk with him, asking various indifferent questions about the building; and finally he asked him where that closed door led to.

"O, that is only a closet," said the attendant, "where we keep our brooms and dusters."

"I wish you would just let us look into it," said Mr. George. "Here's half a guilder for you."

The man looked a little surprised, but he took the half guilder, saying,—

"Certainly, if it will afford you any satisfaction."

Mr. George then went back to where he had left the rest of his party, and said to Mrs. Parkman,—

"This man is going to admit us to that room. Follow Him. I will come in a moment."

So Mr. George stopped to look at a large painting on the wall, while Mrs. Parkman, with high anticipations of the pleasure she was to enjoy in seeing what people in general were excluded from, walked in a proud and stately manner to the door, and when the man opened it, saw only a small, dark room, with nothing in it but brooms, dust pans, and lamp fillers. She was exceedingly abashed by this adventure, and for the rest of that day she did not once ask to see any thing that was not voluntarily shown to her.

After visiting all the places of note in the town, the coachman was ordered to drive to the watering place on the sea shore. It was a very pleasant drive of about three miles. Just before reaching the shore of the sea, the road came to a region of sand hills, called dunes, formed by the drifting sands blown in from the beach by the winds. Among these dunes, and close to the sea shore, was an immense hotel, with long wings stretching a hundred feet on each side, and a row of bath vans on the margin of the beach before it. The beach was low and shelving, and it could be traced for miles in either direction along the coast, whitened by the surf that was rolling in from the German Ocean.

After looking at this prospect for a time, and watching to see one or two of the bathing vans drive down into the surf, in order to allow ladies who had got into them to bathe, the party returned to the carriage, and the coachman drove them through the village, which was very quaint and queer, and inhabited by fishermen. The fishing boats were drawn up on the shore in great numbers, very near the houses. Rollo desired very much to go and see these boats and the fishermen, and learn, if he could, what kind of fish they caught in them, and how they caught them. But Mrs. Parkman thought that they had better not stop. They were nothing but common fishing boats, she said.

The carriage returned to the Hague by a different road from the one in which it came. It was a road that led through a beautiful wood, where there were many pleasant walks, with curious looking Dutch women going and coming. As the party approached the town, they passed through a region of parks, and palaces, and splendid mansions of all kinds. Mrs. Parkman was curious to know who lived in each house, and Mr. George contrived to communicate her inquiries to the coachman, by making signs, and by asking questions partly in English and partly in German. But though the coachman understood the questions, Mrs. Parkman could not understand the answers that he gave, for they were Dutch names,—sometimes long and sometimes short; but whether they were long or short, the sounds were so uncouth and strange that Mrs. Parkman looked terribly distressed in trying to make them out.

At length the carriage arrived at the hotel again; and there the porters put on the baggage belonging both to Mr. and Mrs. Parkman, and to Mr. George and Rollo. It then proceeded to the station. Mr. George and Rollo waited there until the train for Amsterdam arrived, and then took leave of Mr. and Mrs. Parkman as they went to their seats in the carriage. Mrs. Parkman shook hands with Mr. George very cordially, and said,—

"We are very much obliged to you, Mr. George, for your company to-day. We have had a very pleasant time. I wish that we could have you to travel with us all the time."

"I think she ought to be obliged to you," said Rollo, as soon as the train had gone.

"Not at all," said Mr. George.

"Not at all?" repeated Rollo. "Why not? You have done a great deal for her to-day."

"No," said Mr. George. "All that I have done has not been for her sake, but for William's. William is an excellent good friend of mine, and I am very sorry that he has not got a more agreeable travelling companion."