LITERATURE.

Globe, Volume III, Issue 243, 20 March 1875, Page 3

LITERATURE.

HALF THE PENALTY. [From Tinsley's Magazine.'] In the palmy days of Wisebaden, when his Serenity the Duke of Nassau still held his hunting-seat at the Platte, and that scarcely less important personage, Herr Baron von Wellens, high-priest of the local Hades, presided over the destinies of the Kursaal; when the name of Bismarck only suggested a jovial and champage-loving bon vivant, and no signs of Prussian occupation as yet disturbed tranquillity of the Nerothal— theredwelt in one of the little streets leading out of the Wilhelmstrasse Herr Igiiatz Bummel, the hero of the present sketch. A tailor, as his father and grandfather had been before him, he had for some years exercised his calling far from the sunny Bhineland in a secluded London suburb; until, having amassed, by dint of industry and economy, a snug little capital, and unable any longer to resist the combined influences of Ilehmvek and another motive which shall be hereafter specified, he—having previously disposed of his stock-in-trade and goodwill to an aspiring young compatriot— Anally resolved on returning to his native town Wisebaden, where he had modestly but comfortably established himself and spouse shortly before the commencement of tnis veracious history. Herr Bummel, at the time of his resumption of citzenship in the Duchy of Nassau, was what the Germans call ' ein hoher funfziger,' or, in common parlance, nearer sixty than fifty, and as stout and merry a boon companion as you could meet with between Frankfort and Cologne. It was a pleasure to see him, with the still buxom Trudohen (otherwise Gertrude) on his arm, wandering on a summer's evening through the shady anlage in the direction of Sonnenberg, or later—between ten and eleven—surrounded by a group of congenial spirits, smoking the china-bowled pipe and laying down the law in the Bierbrauerei, opposite the railway station. But where he was really in his element was when occupying his favorite chair beside Herr Todtenkopf, the croupier, so called from his striking resemblance to a death's-head, at the roulette table, ' his custom always of an afternoon,' and one which, in the opinion of the thrifty and timorous Frau Bummel, would have been 'more honored in the breach than the observance;' for the extailor's passionate love of play in any shape, and especially in that of the rolling, jerking, and twirling ivory ball, was the sole apple of discord in the otherwise happy menage, which, without that perilous propensity, might have rivalled the fabled felicities of Baucis and Philemon, or, at the very least, established an indisputable claim to the flitch of Dunmow. Unfortunately, Herr Bummel had in the course of his London career contracted an intimacy with a brother snip, a native of Frankfort, and formerly, on high days and holidays, an assiduous frequenter of the neighbouring boards of green cloth at Homburg, Nauheim, and Wiesbaden. From him he had heard tempting stories of adventurous neophytes being suddenly enriched by a turn of the wheel, and had been initiated into an infallible system, which (always provided that the player's patience and capital were not previously exhausted) no bank in the long-run could possibly resist. These tete-a-tete conversations, frequently repeated, and seasoned with the fragrant weed and copious potations of ' af-an-af, had inspired Herr Bummel with a noble ardour, much to the satisfaction of his future successor, Herr Schnapper, who being as anxious to obtain possession of the business as the other was to get rid of it, had not scrupled to relate in his turn divers apocryphal but appropriate anecdotes, tending to the glorification of the enterprising Gracia and his bank-breaking colleagues, which effectually dispelled the remaining hesitations of the unsuspecting Schneider. The result was, as above narrated, the return of our hero, 'his soul in arms and eager for the fray,' to the land of his birth, revelling by anticipation in the pleasing conviction that his modest contributions in the shape of taxes to the ducal treasury would be repaid a thousandfold by the countless piles of florins and double fredericks he intended to extract from the overflowing coffers of the Baron von Wellens.

But Vhomme propose, and—you know the rest. multitude of his calculations he had omitted one solitary item, and, as it turned out, a very important one. Among the many conditions annexed to the agreement between the government of Nassau and the proprietors of the bank was a special clause, by which it was strictly enjoined that no inhabitant of the town of Wiesbaden should be permitted to play at the rouge-et-noir or roulette tables, on pain of certain penalties enumerated for the edification of the parties concerned. Of this prohibition Herr Bummel, who had emigrated when too young to care about or understand such matters, was wholly unaware; and, had he kept his own counsel, might probably have continued to enjoy his postprandial recreation without let or hindrance. Fate,

however, had willed otherwise: ' when the wine's in the truth comes out,' runs the old saying; and an impromptu supper, offered by him one evening to a select party of his fellow-citizens at the restaurant on the road to Sonnenberg, was the cause of much ultimate tribulation to the worthy man. Before the third bottle of Niersteiner had been uncorked on this festive occasion, the host had already become eloquent on his pet topic, arguing in favor of the tapis vert as a judicious investment of capital, and dwelling with great minuteness of detail on the advantages of a peculiar system adopted by himself. ' But surely, friend Bummel,' interrupted one of the party—the stout burly landlord of the Blue Lion—' you are speaking from hearsay. Your theory may be perfectly correct, but practically you can know nothing about it.'

' Why not?' inquired Herr Bummel, in a slightly offended tone. ' Why not! Because you are a Wisebadener, and have no more right to risk a kreutzer at the table than any of us. What is the fine in such cases, Herr Kriechwurm ?' he continued, addressing his opposite neighbor, a spare sallow individual with ferret-like eyes, who had been attentively listening to the conversation.

1 Fifty florins for the first offence, Herr. Baumhauer,' replied the personage appealed to. ' Kinderpossen ! Stuff and nonsense !' retorted the donor of the feast. ' I'll wager no one will ever think of interfering with me.'

' Don't be too sure of that,' muttered Herr Baumhauer, shaking his head doubtfully. Herr Kriechwurm said nothing, but his keen eyes twinkled curiously as he helped himself to a bumper of Niersteiner.

About a week after the evening in question, on returning from his usual expedition to the Kursaal, Herr Bummel found his wife poring over a suspicious-looking paper, partly printed, partly written. 'Alle Wetter !' he exclaimed, as he glanced at its contents. It was a summons to attend in person on the following morning at the Bureau de Police.

' JEine sclwne Bescheerung ! A pretty business !' he murmured, throwing the document impatiently on the table. 'Old Baumhauer was right after all.' The Polizei in Germany has never been remarkable as a school for politeness ; and in this respect its representatives under the house of Nassau, setting aside the difference of uniform, were exactly on a par with their Prussian neighbours. Our hero's reception by the tightly-buttoned, beetle-browed official was therefore, it may well be imagined, neither gracious nor reassuring, consisting of a short dictatorial interrogatory, followed by a peremptory demand of fifty florins, which were forthwith paid over by the transgressor of the banco-ducal code, luckily prepared for this emergency, to the attendant greffier. ' And remember, Herr,' were the the functionary's parting words, 'that a similar offence will entail upon you a fine of one hundred florins. One hundred florins !' he repeated, with a portentous frown and a magisterial wave of his hand, as a sign that the interview was at an end. Herr Bummel took the hint and retired, but paused a moment in the outer office, where a clerk was writing. Slipping a thaler quietly into the subordinate's palm, he inquired in a low tone, ' To whom am I indebted for this summons ?'

The clerk hesitated, looked at the thaler, and finally pocketing it, whispered, 'To Herr Hieronymus Kriechwurm.' 'Herr Kriechwurm?' echoed the other, perfectly bewildered. ' Why should he inform against me ?' 'He gets half the penalty,' was the re P lv -

The untoward event above recorded had for some time the effect of moderating the speculative mania of the Schneider en retraite, and no one profited more by the change than the amiable and hitherto occasionally neglected Trudchen. Instead of the eternal knitting with which she had been wont to beguile her solitary afternoons, she might now be seen proudly leaning on the arm of her liege lord, admiring the specimens of parti-coloured crystals from the Nake-Thal in the shops beneath the colonnade, or placidly listening to the dulcet strains of Keler Bela's orchestra. A Sunday trip to Mayencc, a dinner at the one-o'clock table d'hote of the Hotel du Ilhin, and a digestive stroll in the gardens during the performance of the Austrian military band were no longer regarded as myths by the happy Hausfrau; and in the inmost recesses of her heart she felt almost inclined to pardon the iniquities of the treacherous Kriechwurm. Herr Bummel's visits to the Kursaal were few and far between, and principally confined to the reading room, whore he studied European politics in the Frankfurter Zeitnng, or revelled in the ponderous drolleries of Kladdcradatsch and Fliegende Blatter. Now and then, but very rarely, he would indulge in a stolen visit to the play-rooms ; and when he could do so unobserved, essay a furtive cmvj), and pocket his winnings—if successful—with a mixture of joy and apprehension, without, however, daring to attempt a second venture. This state of things lasted for some weeks, until the recollection of his past troubles, together with the admonitory threat of the official, becoming fainter and fainter, and the non-appearance of Herr Kriechwurm, who took especial care to keep out of his way, deluding him into the belief that his arch-enemy was no longer on the alert, he began insensibly to resume his former habits; and though he carefully abstained from seating himself at the table, and scrutinised attentively the countenances of the by-standers before playing, yet staked his money and pricked his card as unconcernedly as if no sword of Damocles was impending over him. This apparent calm however, like the momentary lull which precedes a storm, was of short duration, and a crisis was at hand, if he could only have known it, destined to terminate in what the transpontine playbills call an 'impressive denouement.' To he continued.