She was evidently the rough fellow's wife, goddess of the kitchen, and final court of appeal.

What a difference a good-natured, good-looking woman makes in a place! 'Tis a glimpse into the obvious, but there are occasions on which such commonplaces shine with a blessed radiance, and the moment when our attractive hostess flowered out upon us from her forbidding background was one of them.

With her on our side, we forgot our fears, and, with an assured air, asked her husband to show us to our rooms.

Lamp in hand, he led us up staircases and along corridors--for the hotel was quite a barracks--thawing out into conversation on the way.

The place, he explained, was a little out of order, owing to "the ball"-- an event he referred to as a matter of national knowledge, and being, we understood, the annual ball of harvesting.