Page:Specimens of German Romance (Volume 3).djvu/9



“ know, my friends,” began Count Felsen—Felsen was not his real name, but it is a very good name notwithstanding, and at all events it is better than Count A, or B, or any other mysterious initial, equally ungracious to the eye and ear;—“you know, my friends, that at times I take a fancy to odd adventures. A whim of this kind seized me,—it is now about five years ago—upon leaving my bed, in the town of, to enjoy the freshness of the morning. My walk led me by the post-house, where a new diligence was just about to take its first flight in the world, and I was suddenly smitten with the idea of riding in it—Why not?—My eye quickly ran over the passengers, Rh