introduced, a smart-looking young Irishman, whom the maids always find
very beguiling; Lina, the autocrat of the kitchen, a little,
wiry-looking woman from Stockholm, formerly cook, so _she_ says, to
King Charles of Sweden; and Minna, the maid.

Minna is a pretty young Bavarian, who has been only fifteen days in the
Land of Liberty, but she has already learnt, I am amused to see, _not_
to address a lady as "_gnädige_ Frau," or "Fräulein"--a style of
address imperative in South Germany from a maid to her mistress. Minna
has not, however, imbibed all of the democratic principles that will, I
fear, come to her only too soon, for she has not yet learnt to emulate
her mistress in dress. It is really quite refreshing to see a servant
dressed as a servant. Minna is the perfection of neatness, and her
plain stuff or print gowns are _sans reproche_ in their freshness. In
the matter of aprons she must be quite reckless, for they always look
as if just from the ironing-table. They are made, too, in an
especially pretty fashion that I have never before seen out of Munich.
Scorning chignons, Minna appears with her own luxuriant hair in massive
braids wound about her well-shaped head, and as to-day is Sunday and a
_Fest-tag_, she adorns herself with a large shell-comb. She has very
pretty, coquettish ways, that have already melted the heart of our
hitherto unsusceptible Bernard, and it is quite charming to hear her
attempts to converse with him in her broken English.

Minna came to me this morning directly after breakfast, and said,
"Where shall I go to church, Fräulein Cecilia?"

"I do not really know, Minna," I replied. "You are a Lutheran, I
suppose?"