After which communication we regarded Ignaz as much less a clown than he looked.  Pushing forward, we soon saw the little inn shining forth a mile farther up the valley—­a small white chalet, with the pink-checked feather beds hanging to air in the upper gallery.

Moidel looked grave over the dinner which the interposition of Ignaz had prepared for us.  “The place is called Rein (clean),” she said, “but it is none of the cleanest.  A Graf once reached Rein, and he thought it so pastoral that he asked at the inn for a drink of new milk, but the landlord shook his head and asked for other orders, seeing there was none in the house.  Then the Graf said he would take cream, but the landlord shook his head and asked for other orders.  Fresh eggs?  Yes, the landlord said there were eggs, and begged him to step into the zechstube until they were boiled.  When they came they made the very room smell, and the Graf in disgust ordered wine.  This was speedily forthcoming, but with so dirty a glass that the Graf, making a long face, angrily called for the reckoning and departed.”

After Moidel’s tale, and certain recollections of our own concerning the little hostel last year, we all approached the house with very humble expectations.  The wirth, already on the lookout, received Moidel and two of the party as old friends, and hearing no nay he marshaled us up stairs, and flinging open a bed-room door, looked proudly triumphant as even Moidel uttered an exclamation of surprise.

Whether constant reminders from his neighbors of the Graf’s unfortunate visit, or a wave of civilization from the Pusterthal had reached this secluded mountain-inn, certain it is that twelve months had wrought a marvelous change here.  Whilst the rest of the house remained rough, dirty and primitive, the landlord had devoted all his powers of taste and judgment upon this upper chamber.  Leaning complacently against the door, he received our congratulations on the pretty ceiling and walls of carved deal wainscot, on the grand new bed, and the bouquet of fresh Edelweiss in a wash-basin, but showed surprise that the fiery tigers and gliding serpents which in a couple of gilt frames adorned the walls received no flattering comments from our lips.  He next displayed a visitors’ book, containing already some half dozen names, watching closely the astonishment it should produce in us as he prepared the table for our meal.  But even the study of the names had to be interrupted, for he had purchased some steel knives and forks, which were, he considered, to bring him great credit and reputation; nor could he complete his work without hinting at the superiority of his table-cloth and napkins.  Fortunately, a call from below that the pancakes were ready enabled us to have a little laugh to ourselves.  Linen being used in all peasant houses, he had discarded it as vulgar, wearing himself an unbleached cotton shirt with an incipient frill, and supplying his guests with a table-cloth and napkins of the same material from an empty wash-basin.