a commodious suite of large rooms, furnished, after the manner of
the Germans, somewhat gaudily as regarded their best salon, and with
somewhat meagre comfort as regarded their other rooms. But, whether
in respect of that which was meagre, or whether in respect of that
which was gaudy, they were as well off as their neighbours; and
this, as I take it, is the point of excellence which is desirable.

Ernest Heine was at this time over sixty; his wife was past forty;
and his eldest daughter, as I have said, was twenty-one years of
age. His second child, also a girl, was six years younger; and
their third child, a boy, had not been born till another similar
interval had elapsed. He was named Hatto after his uncle, and the
two girls had been christened Isa and Agnes. Such, in number and
mode of life, was the family of the Heines.

We English folk are apt to imagine that we are nearer akin to
Germans than to our other continental neighbours. This may be so in
blood, but, nevertheless, the difference in manners is so striking,
that it could hardly be enhanced. An Englishman moving himself off
to a city in the middle of Central America will find the customs to
which he must adapt himself less strange to him there, than he would
in many a German town. But in no degree of life is the difference
more remarkable than among unmarried but marriageable young women.
It is not my purpose at the present moment to attribute a
superiority in this matter to either nationality. Each has its own
charm, its own excellence, its own Heaven-given grace, whereby men
are led up to purer thoughts and sweet desires; and each may
possibly have its own defect. I will not here describe the
excellence or defect of either; but will, if it be in my power, say
a word as to this difference. The German girl of one-and-twenty,--