indication of middle size be so rightly applied to them as to their
German neighbours, whereas the taller Anglo-Saxons can frequently find
their match in the Netherlands.

The room in which we are seated is furnished in so-called 'old Dutch
style.' My friend and his wife have collected fine old wainscots,
sideboards and cupboards of richly carved oak in Friesland and in the
Flemish parts of Belgium. Their tables and chairs are all of the same
material and artistically cut. A very dark, greenish-grey paper covers the
walls; the curtains, the carpet, and the doors are in the same slightly
sombre shades. Venetian mirrors, Delft, Chinese and Rouen china plates,
arranged along the walls, over the carved oak bench, and on the
over-mantel, make delightful patches of bright colour in the room, and the
easy-chairs are as stylish as they are comfortable.

Our visit has fallen in the late autumn, and the gas burns bnghtly in the
bronze chandelier, while the fire in the old-fashioned circulating stove,
a rare specimen of ancient Flemish design, makes the room look cosy and
hospitable. For the moment our friend the lawyer is absent. He has been
called away to his study, for a client has come to see him on urgent
business, and we are left in the gracious society of his wife in the
comfortable sitting-room. On the table the Japan tray, with its silver
teapot, sugar-basin, milk-jug and spoon-box of mother-of-pearl and
crystal, and its dark-blue real China cups and saucers, enjoys the company
of two silver boxes, on silver trays, full of all sorts of 'koekjes'
(sweet biscuits). Many Dutch families like to take a 'koekje' with their
tea, tea-time falling in Holland between 7 and 8 o'clock, half-way between
dinner at 5 or 6 p.m. and supper at 10 or 11 p.m. A cigar-stand is not
wanting, nor yet dainty ash-trays; while by the side of our hostess is an
old-fashioned brass 'komfoor,' or chafer,[Footnote: _Komfoor_ (or