fantastic plants in beds, bushes and pots. On the left of the large
drawing-room was the dining-room, with white varnished walls
divided into squares by gold beading, and decorated by a number of
bright pictures of symbolic female figures representing various
kinds of wine. A gigantic porcelain stove filled one end of the
room, and a sideboard the other. Through the dining-room was a
smoking-room furnished with Smyrna carpets, low divans, chairs in
mother-of-pearl, and from the ceiling hung a number of colored glass
lanterns. This was intended for old gentlemen who wished to enjoy
the latest scandal, and a card table was arranged for them with an
open box of cigars.

The decoration of these rooms was handsome without being overloaded,
and tasteful without being odd or obtrusive, qualities which one
does not often find in Germany, even in princes' palaces. A fine
perception would perhaps have felt the want of smilarity in style in
the numerous rooms, giving them the character of a museum or
curiosity shop, rather than that of the harmonious dwelling of
educated people of a particular period, and in a certain country.
Herr Ellrich was, however, quite innocent of this imperfection. He
had not chosen anything himself. Everything had come from Paris, and
was the selection of a Parisian decorator, and one of the proudest
moments in the councilor's life was on the occasion of the ball he
gave on his daughter's return from England, when Count Benedetti,
the French ambassador, said to him: "One would imagine oneself in an
historical house in the Faubourg St. Germain, c'est tout a fait
Parisien, Monsieur, tout a fait Parisien."

The Ellrichs' party was to celebrate the New Tear. Even the richest
of the members of the German bourgeoisie is obliged to be educated