am
 
 MISS PRITCHARD'S 
 WEDDING TRIP 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 GROSSET & DUNLAP 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 COPYRIGHT, IQOI, BY CLARA LOUISE BURNHAM 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
 
 To M. D. 
 
 THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED 
 WITH HAPPY MEMORIES
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. THE PRELUDE 1 
 
 II ENGLAND 20 
 
 III. WALES 45 
 
 IV. WlNDERMERE 69 
 
 V. SCOTLAND 83 
 
 VI. BY LAND AND SEA 105 
 
 VII. CANNES 120 
 
 VIII. REMINISCENCES 140 
 
 IX. THE CARNIVAL 162 
 
 X. ROME 177 
 
 XI. EDWINA'S PROMISE 188 
 
 XII. THE CATACOMBS 205 
 
 XIII. THE COLOSSEUM 219 
 
 XIV. THE POPE 240 
 
 XV. THE BLUE GROTTO 251 
 
 XVI. FLYING TRIPS 271 
 
 XVII. FAREWELL TO ITALY 290 
 
 XVIII. THE PASSION PLAY 300 
 
 XIX. SWITZERLAND 323 
 
 XX. THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 340 
 
 XXI. THE OPAL DAY . . 355
 
 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE PRELUDE 
 
 IF Eunice Pritehard had not been " disap* 
 pointed " in the sixties, it is improbable that her 
 young cousin Edwina would have gone to Europe 
 in the nineties. There are many ways in which a 
 man may woo a maid without committing himself ; 
 but in the nocturnal musing during which for years 
 Eunice continued to rehearse the circumstances of 
 her own heart's surrender, her honesty compelled 
 her to recognize that it had yielded to little wooing. 
 A nonchalant, graceful acceptance of her interest 
 in his hopes and fears had constituted Edwin 
 Wilder's attentions, when she sifted the substance 
 of his constant visits, and only her wish had been 
 father to the thought and growing belief that sho 
 was necessary to him. 
 
 How many an hour she had sat in the corner of 
 her sofa while he restlessly paced the floor and 
 poured out his perplexities or his schemes, and had 
 felt repaid when the restless glance of his fine eyes 
 concentrated upon her, admiring of some comfort-
 
 2 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ing suggestion. Sometimes he threw himself be- 
 side her on the lounge, and his voice became caress- 
 ing as he said : " Little Reliable, there 's nobody 
 like you." Then the waves of his blond head 
 came near, and she would have given years of her 
 life this stiff, demure New England girl to 
 have laid her slight hand once on those waves of 
 thick hair above his forehead. 
 
 At such a moment her heart would bound. 
 Surely now he would speak. He had leaned on 
 her so long, and her mother expected it, and the 
 neighbors expected it, and she so craved the right 
 to call him hers openly, as for the last year of their 
 friendship she had done to her own heart ; but 
 instead of speaking, one day he left Salem, where 
 they lived, for a business trip, squeezing her hand 
 in farewell, but talking to the last only of his busi- 
 ness venture. 
 
 " He is too proud to marry me before he is suc- 
 cessful, because I shall have money," Eunice told 
 herself for the hundredth time. 
 
 During the first week of his absence she had re- 
 ceived three letters from him ; then none for a 
 month. Then the news came that he was engaged 
 to her cousin Alicia. Eunice had asked him to 
 call upon this cousin while he was in New Yoi'k. 
 The happy Alicia wrote her an effusive letter of 
 thanks for sending so much joy into her life. She 
 said Edwin averred that if he was good for any- 
 thing, it was Little Reliable who had made him so. 
 There was much jubilant dwelling upon Wilder's
 
 THE PBELUDE 3 
 
 personal attractions, and an underscored wonder as 
 to how Eunice could have been with him so much 
 without falling a prey to them. Inclosed in the 
 same envelope was a note from Wilder himself, 
 declaring again the debt he owed to Eunice's 
 'influence, and to the platonic affection that had 
 Jubsisted between them. 
 
 In the paralysis of her bitter, chilling grief, the 
 deserted girl ignored her cousin's letter altogether, 
 and to Wilder she wrote as follows : 
 
 DEAR NED, I wish you and Alicia happiness. 
 If I can ever do anything for you, I am sure you 
 will ask it, and equally sure that I shall grant it. 
 Sincerely yours, 
 
 EUNICE PRITCHARD. 
 
 " That sounds exactly like her," remarked 
 Wilder when he read it. " Not much sentiment 
 about Little Reliable." 
 
 " I was evidently too gushing to be noticed at 
 all," responded Alicia, and they exchanged a smil- 
 ing gaze. They could both do without Eunice, 
 who for weeks groped in that outer cold and dark- 
 ness where all blossoming things die for lack of 
 the sun. She had placed her every possession of 
 heart and mind in the keeping of one being, and, 
 he having tossed them aside, she was left bankrupt. 
 Her course now had to be that of other bankrupts. 
 She saw that she must begin life again, and she did 
 so, devoting herself assiduously to her invalid
 
 4 MISS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 mother, whose failing state furnished a reason for 
 the great stillness that had fallen upon the daugh- 
 ter, and gave the gossips tantalizing doubts as to 
 whether the facts of Edwin Wilder's going to 
 settle in New York and failure to take Eunice with 
 him had brought that new expression into her 
 face. 
 
 "Eunice Pritchard has been a real good 
 daughter," was the general verdict when the young 
 woman was at last an orphan. She was left in 
 possession of so comfortable an independence that 
 the next wonder was as to who would be the man, 
 thrifty enough not to run after a pretty face, as 
 Edwin Wilder had done, but to take Eunice with 
 her spare form, thin cheeks, and snug fortune. A 
 widower with an interestingly assorted family 
 offered himself to her speedily, and as if this 
 circumstance clinched Miss Pritchard's growing 
 distaste for surroundings that held for her such 
 poignant associations, she suddenly packed her 
 belongings and left Salem for Boston, taking her 
 church letter with her. 
 
 This looked like permanency. Eunice meant it 
 so. She took a little apartment in Boston and 
 settled down. Had all this happened at the present 
 day, she might have studied medicine or read law ; 
 but it was in the sixties, and so she went to sewing 
 society, and to lectures and concerts, and made no 
 friends outside her church, and passed for a placid, 
 well-balanced woman who found no fault with her 
 narrow, colorless path in life.
 
 THE PRELUDE 5 
 
 " Is n't she a typical old maid ? " the girls in 
 the church used to say sometimes to one another, 
 and smile at this woman, whose hopes and dreams 
 and possibilities had been as high, and more tender 
 and thrilling perhaps, than any of which they were 
 capable. And Eunice lived on. The wonder is 
 that the monotonous days, weeks, months, years 
 did not shrivel her mentally ; but made her more 
 kindly, more outgoing to the sad and the needy. 
 
 A gentle resignation had succeeded to the blight- 
 ing sorrow of her loss. She long rehearsed, as in 
 the days of her youth, the one gladdest time of her 
 life, and her clear mental vision told her that the 
 man she loved had never shown her one unselfish 
 act. Self-centred even when kindest to her, accept- 
 ing all she had to give, seeking her because in her 
 eyes more clearly than anywhere else he could see 
 a flattering reflection of himself, she knew that he 
 had never for one moment taken her standpoint or 
 considered her. Hundreds of times she argued 
 this out. Hundreds of times she told herself that 
 no noble woman would love such a character ; and 
 having reasoned herself unanswerably into a posi- 
 tion where it was logically proven that the man 
 she loved was not Edwin Wilder at all, back would 
 roll the towering wave of feeling, submerging that 
 fabric of the intellect, and carrying away poor 
 Eunice's weighty reasons like wisps of straw borne 
 on a mountain torrent. " Ned, my Ned ! I love 
 him ! " her heart cried out. So because she loved 
 him she never saw him, though he and his wife
 
 6 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 sent for her from time to time. She did not 
 attempt to conceal that she avoided them. They 
 might explain it as they liked. For her Ned 
 Wilder still tossed two yellow-brown waves of 
 thick hair above his forehead, though her own was 
 whitening fast. One of his strong teeth overlapped 
 its neighbor at the right side ; he still had the gay 
 smile of youth, and not a wrinkle, although she 
 observed the faint lines in her own face without 
 regret. To think about him was pain since it had 
 become a sin, and as the years rolled on she fought 
 the temptation to weakening repining and con- 
 quered ; but though, as her servant Miranda said 
 and believed, " there was n't a comf ortabler person 
 in the land than Miss Eunice," nothing occurred 
 to light a rosy flame again in the lamp of her life 
 until the time when she had passed fifty years of 
 age, and then it was Edwin Wilder's hand which 
 lighted it. 
 
 At first she did not recognize what it was that 
 had come to her, nor see the flush of color on the 
 gray horizon that was to grow, and spread, and 
 woo into bud and blossom her long-withered fields. 
 To all weary, hungering hearts the good time will 
 come, but Eunice was to taste it in this world, and 
 the herald of its approach was this letter : 
 
 DEAR LITTLE RELIABLE, I remember that I 
 wrote you last when our youngest child was born. 
 Seven years afterward poor Alicia died. I have 
 wondered if you knew. I address you now because
 
 THE PRELUDE 1 
 
 the doctor says I have n't much time left. The 
 news was nearly my death, on account of Edwina. 
 She will be as lonely a child as can be found when 
 I am gone. I should like to write much in explana- 
 tion, but strength fails me. She won't be penniless, 
 yet I am leaving her little. She is the only one of 
 our children that lived. Better for her if she had 
 not. Things have gone against me always. I 
 turn to you in trouble as naturally as I did twenty- 
 five years ago. It 's a chance if you will help me, 
 but you promised when you turned me over to 
 Alicia. Poor Alicia ! She was a good girl, and 
 she was happy. Strength 's up. 
 
 NED. 
 
 Miss Pritchard, without a moment's hesitation, 
 wrote the following reply : 
 
 DEAR NED, I did n't know Alicia had gone. 
 I had no idea you were ill or in trouble. Every- 
 thing that an ignorant woman can do for your 
 daughter I will do. Whether she be penniless or 
 an heiress, amiable or ill-natured, plain or pretty, 
 it is enough for me that she is your child. Rest 
 assured she shall be my first care so long as I live. 
 When do you wish me to take her ? What else 
 can I do for you ? 
 
 Yours, EUNICE. 
 
 What the effect of this message was, the writer 
 of it could only guess, and the guessing flooded
 
 8 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 her heart with memories and her eyes with tears, 
 for one day Edwin's ring came to her; his mother's 
 ring, the one she remembered so well upon his hand 
 that it was like a familiar beloved feature. With 
 it came a letter from the physician saying that all 
 was over ; that Mr. Wilder had asked him to send 
 the ring, and that the little girl would come to 
 her on the following Wednesday. Miss Pritchard 
 could neither eat nor sleep during the days that 
 intervened, and when Wednesday came, by a mis- 
 understanding about the train she missed her little 
 guest at the depot. One of Wilder's friends had 
 brought the child from New York, and this man, 
 being assured by Miranda that Miss Pritchard 
 would at once return to the apartment, left his 
 charge alone in the small parlor, and there Eunice 
 found her sitting patiently, her hat off, and her 
 little feet hanging some inches from the floor. 
 
 The two looked at each other eagerly as Miss 
 Pritchard stood in the doorway, faint from haste 
 and excitement. The child smiled questioningly, 
 a smile that showed one tooth overlapping its 
 neighbor. Above her forehead, where the hair was 
 brushed back, it rose in two rebellious, shining 
 waves. Her eyes were brown and clear. Such 
 overwhelming emotion swept over the woman at 
 the marvelous resemblance that for a minute she 
 could not speak. Her guest broke the silence. 
 " I 'm waiting for my cousin Eunice," she said. 
 
 " Yes. Excuse me. I 'm only out of breath. 
 I 'm very glad to see you, my dear." Eunice
 
 THE PRELUDE 9 
 
 crossed to the child and took her little hand, look- 
 ing down at her with yearning. She did not know 
 what to do. It was long since she had kissed any 
 one. She could not summon courage to kiss this 
 living miniature of Edwin Wilder ; but she laid 
 her other hand on those two thick waves of hair 
 with such delicate, loving pressure that Edwina's 
 upraised glance hesitated. 
 
 " But you are n't you are n't " she began. 
 
 " Cousin Eunice ? Yes. What is it, Edwina? " 
 
 The child looked embarrassed. " Nothing, only 
 papa made such a a funny mistake. He said 
 your hair was auburn. Auburn does n't mean 
 white, does it ? " 
 
 Eunice's eyes filled again, and she stooped with 
 a sudden gesture so that the two faces were on a 
 level. " Papa forgot that I have been growing 
 old all this time," she said gently, and something 
 in her smile and tone affected the small listener 
 like a tender caress. 
 
 Edwina threw her arms around the slender neck 
 and clung there. " I 'm all alone," she said. 
 " Papa told me you were the dearest woman in the 
 world, and you would take care of me, and I am 
 going to love you as much as he did." Then the 
 living miniature of the man who had broken 
 Eunice's heart began the work of reparation in 
 the best way, by kissing her fervently, feeling with 
 a little child's intuition that no love she had lost 
 exceeded this new affection into which she had 
 come, and not questioning why it should be so.
 
 10 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 From that day Miss Pritchard commenced to 
 live. At first her prayers were divided. Half of 
 them were expressing thanks to God for his mer- 
 cies, and the other half beseeching Him to preserve 
 her from idolatry. These last arose from a fear 
 lest she spent too much time watching Edwina in 
 her sleep when she should have been sleeping her- 
 self. She often dwelt upon what she had escaped. 
 Ned's child might have resembled her mother and 
 have been named Alicia. Eunice assured herself 
 that had it been so, she should have taken her just 
 the same and done her duty by her. 
 
 One day, when Edwina had been with her a fort- 
 night, the two sat sewing together. It was one of 
 Miss Pritchard's theories that the child must be 
 taught early to sew, as she herself had been ; but 
 not to allow her to feel the irksomeness of long 
 seams, she cut out doll's clothes, which Edwina 
 made under her eye. 
 
 " Cousin Eunice, do you think Edwina is a silly, 
 made-up name ? It sounds just as natural to me," 
 said the little girl, puckering her lips over the in- 
 tricacies of a tiny red skirt. " Miranda says it 's 
 silly." Miranda, being elderly and " set," was not 
 yet adjusted to the astonishing new element that 
 had entered into the household. 
 
 " It is an unusual name, but of course given you 
 for your father." 
 
 " Yes. Papa kept hoping for a boy and kept 
 not having one, so mamma named me Edwina to 
 comfort him." The little girl knotted her thread. 
 " But papa called me Ned, 'most always."
 
 THE PRELUDE 11 
 
 " He did what, my dear ? " 
 
 " He called me Ned, except when he felt bad. 
 He said that is what you always called him." 
 
 Miss Pritchard was silent an instant. " When 
 did he tell you that ? " 
 
 " A little while before before he went away," 
 answered the child in the hushed voice she always 
 used in referring to her father's death. " Those 
 last two days he talked about you all the time 
 when he was n't too tired, because I was coming 
 here, you know." 
 
 " Yes, dear. Edwina," after a minute, " did 
 your mother call your father Ned ? " 
 
 " No, she always called him Edwin." 
 
 Miss Pritchard quickly put out her hand and 
 rested it on the child's wavy head. Edwina had 
 already come to associate this caress with very 
 high approval. At present, she was considerably 
 mystified to know what she had done to merit it. 
 
 " Cousin Eunice," she said timidly, emboldened 
 to ask a question often on the tip of her tongue, 
 " is n't that papa's ring that you wear ? " 
 
 " Yes, Edwina. It was your grandmother's." 
 
 " I know. He told me so. He never would let 
 even mamma wear it. Papa must have loved you 
 the best of all his cousins." 
 
 Eunice sewed fast and silently. She had 
 learned already that all Edwina knew of her had 
 been poured into the little mind in those last 
 hours of her father's life. 
 
 " I was n't his cousin, dear," she said. " I was 
 your mother's cousin."
 
 12 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Then it 's queer that you and papa " Ed- 
 wina's quick, clear glance fell, and she blushed 
 without knowing exactly why. 
 
 " That was n't the way your father loved me. 
 Your mother was very pretty, and so he married 
 her." 
 
 " He loved you very hard, though," and the 
 little girl shook her head, " or he would n't have 
 given you his most precious thing." She meant 
 the ring, but Eunice looked at her bent head with 
 a mental " Amen." 
 
 " Mamma was sick nearly all the time, but my 
 picture of her is pretty. Do you think I look like 
 her, cousin Eunice ? " 
 
 "Not at all. You are like your father." 
 
 " Then I must have looked more like him when 
 I was a baby." The little girl glanced up with a 
 mischievous twinkle. " I was bald then." 
 
 "What did you say?" 
 
 " Papa was bald, you see." 
 
 " Put put away your sewing, Edwina ! " Miss 
 Pritchard's voice was unsteady. 
 
 " Why, what 's the matter ? " faltered the child, 
 astonished. 
 
 " You must n't you should n't looks they 
 should n't be talked about do not matter. Put 
 on your hat and run outdoors a while." 
 
 It was now that Miss Pritchard rejoiced, and 
 gave thanks for her easy circumstances. The small 
 sum that in time was to be Edwina's she did not 
 draw upon. It should be kept, not for the girl's
 
 THE PRELUDE 13 
 
 dowry, Eunice shuddered at the thought of that, 
 but for a rainy day. Ever since she had come 
 to Boston to live, she had felt her own ignorance. 
 Every lecture she had attended, every book she read, 
 heightened her wish that girls had been better ed- 
 ucated in her young days. Edwina must go to the 
 best schools, regardless of expense ; and so she did. 
 The years she took on seemed to be deducted from 
 Miss Pritchard's account, so that Miranda often 
 soliloquized in the kitchen on the subject. 
 
 " Hen with one chicken 's nothin' to it, nothin'. 
 I never see a person so changed as Miss Eunice. 
 Got so interested in everything and so chipper, 
 she '11 be goin' to school herself 'fore she gets 
 through." But though Miranda's tone was a grum- 
 ble, she approved. No one could help approving 
 the change made in one small household in that 
 decade which finished Edwina's schooling. 
 
 " Unless you take some advanced course " said 
 Miss Pritchard. " You shall go to college, if you 
 like." She said this to the girl when she was at 
 home on her last Easter vacation. 
 
 Edwina knew heroic unselfishness prompted the 
 offer, and she looked up from the letter she was 
 opening. " I 'm afraid I 'm not much of a stu- 
 dent," she replied. 
 
 Miss Pritchard observed her thoughtfully, and 
 with some anxiety. Edwina had for many years 
 been in the society of cultured, refined, wise women. 
 She had learned much from them, and although not 
 the creature of perfect beauty and gifts that Eunice
 
 14 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 believed her, she was a charming girl : healthy, 
 graceful, and well bred. Her teachers had formed 
 her mind along the most approved lines, and much 
 astonished they would have been had they known 
 in what way Miss Pritchard supplemented their 
 efforts. Her instructions to Edwina were elemen- 
 tary, but fundamental, and the girl smiled to her- 
 self over the conflicting reports concerning the 
 great world she was about to enter. Her teachers 
 taught their pupils that if true marriage was added 
 unto them when all the books were conned, the 
 highest end of their lives would be fulfilled. 
 Cousin Eunice instilled into her, line upon line and 
 precept upon precept, that all men were profoundly 
 selfish, and that most women were doomed to love 
 them without reason and to their own misery. 
 
 Poor Eunice's ancestors had prayed to a God of 
 vengeance, and she being haunted by the text con- 
 cerning visiting the sins of the fathers upon the 
 children, her attitude of mind was a strange mix- 
 ture of grateful acknowledgment to Providence for 
 the priceless gift of her adored child, and a fierce 
 watch upon the Gi'eat Power in order to outwit 
 any attempt to punish Edwina for her father's self- 
 ishness through the instrumentality of some man 
 who should play with her feelings. 
 
 This ruling thought had naturally caused Ed- 
 wina's bringing-up to be a strict one. Once one 
 of her companions was goaded to a hurst of anger 
 by Miss Pritchard's refusal to allow Edwina to 
 take part in some theatricals. " I do think your
 
 THE PE ELUDE 15 
 
 cousin is too old-maidish and particular for any- 
 thing! I pity you, Edwina Wilder." 
 
 " You need n't ! " returned the latter stoutly. 
 "If cousin Eunice is old-maidish, then it's nice to 
 be old-maidish ! " She was only sixteen then, but 
 she retained this defense of her cousin all her 
 school-days, and her loyalty was such as many a 
 mother longs in vain to command. As she grew 
 older, she constructed a theory concerning the 
 lover-like affection Miss Pritchard held for her. 
 Eunice was certain that she successfully concealed 
 her overweening admiration. She would have 
 thought it very bad for her child to suspect it ; 
 and Edwina laughed at her little subterfuges as 
 tenderly as she did at her provincialisms of speech, 
 and being inches taller than her little guardian, 
 petted her and was grateful to her in a manner 
 which caused Eunice to shed tears of sheer joy 
 sometimes in the privacy of her own chamber. 
 
 The thorn attached to her rose was the fact of 
 its attractiveness. At the first relaxing of the ten- 
 sion of school life, there was always some serpent 
 in the form of a man trying to approach its fra- 
 grance, succeeding too at times, for Miss Pritch- 
 ard could not seclude an intelligent girl of nearly 
 twenty from all society. So Eunice set her teeth, 
 and went to concerts with him and to theatres with 
 him. She sat out his calls and endured his enjoy- 
 ment of her treasure's frank, natural words and 
 looks. Sometimes it was one him and sometimes 
 another ; but she had no faith in any of them.
 
 16 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Of late a worse thing had befallen. On this spe- 
 cial Easter vacation one serpent in particular, Glenn 
 by name, had seemed to Miss Pritchard's Argus- 
 eyes to be of some interest to Edwina. It was the 
 girl's first lapse from desirable indifference, and 
 Eunice had marked him from the first as liable to 
 be dangerous. It occurred to her that his name 
 often obtruded itself into the conversation, and she 
 knew it was never herself who introduced it. To 
 her kindled suspicions it also seemed to her that her 
 darling was unusually abstracted in these vacation 
 days. 
 
 Like the woman who all her life had been look- 
 ing under the bed for a burglar, Miss Pritchard 
 believed her robber had at last arrived. Her mind 
 once set in that direction, not Othello himself was 
 more prone to turn trifles light as air into confir- 
 mation. Young Glenn admired Edwina, but he 
 did not call oftener than others. His admiration 
 was the light fancy of a man of fashion for one of 
 many pretty girls. Yet Edwina had begun to care 
 for him. It was this stunning thought that caused 
 Eunice to consider college for Edwina in the light 
 of an easy sacrifice. Let her keep her child's mind 
 preoccupied, safe from the toils of the enemy until 
 she was twenty-five, and all might be well. But, 
 " I 'm afraid I 'm not much of a student," the girl 
 had replied to her offer. Eunice's sharpened ears 
 detected a novel lack of interest and evasiveness in 
 this, and Edwina's absorption in the letter she had 
 just opened gave her guardian an opportunity to 
 regard her with a troubled gaze.
 
 THE PRELUDE 17 
 
 Suddenly the girl began to laugh over her read- 
 ing. " The Hinckleys are having such a funny 
 time in France ! " she said. 
 
 Little did Miss Pritchard care just then about 
 the Hinckleys' experiences. 
 
 Edwina's laugh bubbled forth again. " It 's 
 too ridiculous ! Listen to this. You know Belle 
 is the only one of the three who can speak French, 
 but her sister Fanny manages the traveling; so 
 here is what Belle says : ' You can imagine me be- 
 ing the mouthpiece at the stations when we go to 
 take a train. We never find a man who speaks 
 English, and the trains are so confusing. Fanny 
 is always telling me to " Ask him this," and " Ask 
 him that." Yesterday, mother misunderstood what 
 we wanted to do, and climbed into the wrong car- 
 riage. Fanny looked at her in desperate silence 
 for a second, and then turned to me and said : 
 " Ask her to get out ! " ' " 
 
 Miss Pritchard smiled, and Edwina's laugh 
 drifted into a wistful sigh as she finished the letter. 
 " They 're having such a good time. What is the 
 use of my French, cousin Eunice, unless we go to 
 Europe ? " 
 
 " Well, let 's go," returned the other impulsively. 
 When it is a matter of life or death, the most 
 cowardly woman will take a daring leap. 
 
 Edwina's eyes dilated. " Wha what ! " she 
 gasped. 
 
 " Of course we could n't," began Miss Pritchard, 
 frightened.
 
 18 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ** We could ! we could ! " ejaculated the girl, 
 dancing over to her cousin, her cheeks rosy. " I 
 did n't suppose you 'd ever consent, cousin Eunice, 
 but indeed we could." 
 
 " My dear ! my dear ! Wait ! We should be 
 perfect babes in the woods." 
 
 " Not at all, and I 'd much rather have it than 
 college." 
 
 Edwina's face was glowing, and, Miss Pritch- 
 ard's intrepid moment having passed, she was 
 shrinking in every limb. " Of course, if you could 
 be satisfied with California," she said. " Just 
 think of it, Ned, it 's dry land all the way. Really, 
 I was joking, you know. Europe would be against 
 my better judgment." Her tone had the fervor of 
 panic, and the vivacity faded from Edwina's face. 
 
 " I 'm sure," she returned, " you could n't have 
 heard all Mr. Glenn said yesterday about his trip 
 two years ago ; but," with a quick sigh, " I '11 
 never go without you except on my wedding 
 trip." 
 
 Once again the open window of deliverance 
 ceased to have terrors compared to those which the 
 girl's words unconsciously revived. Miss Eunice 
 met her wistful eyes with a desperate glance. 
 
 " California is beautiful, Edwina," she said sol- 
 emnly. " Americans don't travel enough in their 
 own country." 
 
 " We can do that when we 're old," returned the 
 girl, something in her cousin's manner revealing to 
 her that there was still hope.
 
 THE PRELUDE 19 
 
 " At my age, Ned," 
 
 " That's just what I say. While you 're young 
 is the time for us to do it. Mr. Glenn says he 
 wishes " 
 
 " It seems foolish to think of such a thing, and 
 yet if you are so anxious " 
 
 " You '11 overcome your fears ? " joyously. 
 
 " It 's not a question of fear," said Eunice tartly, 
 showing temper as many a gentle creature does at 
 bay. " It 's my better judgment that 's against 
 it." 
 
 " Overcome your better judgment then, dear," 
 said Edwina exultingly, " and we '11 sail in June 
 and be in time to see the Queen's drawing-room 
 from the outside, of course, yes, from the out- 
 side. Don't look as if the stake fires were about 
 to be lighted. She should n't be presented to the 
 Queen, no she should n't !" and the girl's merry 
 eyes looked down into Eunice's as with one arm 
 around her she stroked her hair and charmed away 
 the martyred expression. 
 
 " It 's against my better judgment, though, Ned," 
 groaned the little woman.
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 ENGLAND 
 
 Miss PRITCHARD and her better judgment were 
 on excellent terms for a few hours sailing down the 
 harbor away from the Statue of Liberty whose up- 
 lifted torch seemed cheering her on toward a for- 
 eign shore. No one in that far country would send 
 Edwina roses like those now incumbering their 
 stateroom. Ralph Glenn had managed to see his 
 friends off. " Managed " was the word Eunice 
 silently employed, though most plausible was the 
 errand which the young man declared had happened 
 luckily to compel him to come to New York that 
 week. At any rate, now there was an end of him, 
 unless some words of his lingered in that pile 
 of steamer letters in which Edwina was smilingly 
 buried. There were days to come, however, and 
 nights especially nights, for Eunice was a light 
 sleeper when that better judgment, like an ac- 
 cusing spirit, sat at her elbow and chanted, " I told 
 you so," with the most depressing monotony. 
 
 " It is so lucky that one of us is a good sailor," 
 said Edwina brightly on the third day out, as she 
 assisted Miss Pritchard over the mountains and 
 vales of the heaving deck toward the haven of that 
 lady's steamer chair.
 
 ENGLAND 21 
 
 " I wish it were I, then," retorted Eunice with 
 feeble asperity. 
 
 " So do I, dear," sympathetically. 
 
 " Fiddlesticks ! that 's because you don't know ! " 
 Miss Pritchard groaned as she settled flaccidly into 
 her outspread rug and back against a down pillow, 
 while Edwina carefully folded the rug over her. 
 The deck steward flew to their assistance. His 
 eyes were always quick to see when Edwina could 
 be served. He picked up Miss Pritchard's feet 
 rather suddenly to swathe them, and she scowled at 
 him. Edwina tried to scowl, too, as well as she 
 could with the blue waves leaping and the porpoises 
 springing in twos and threes in a graceful arch from 
 the sunny flood. 
 
 " Steward, this is a very noisy boat," she said 
 accusingly. " My poor cousin scarcely slept at all 
 last night. The people talk outside her window 
 till all hours." 
 
 " Jus' so, miss. So they do. The weather 's so 
 fine, you see, miss." 
 
 Edwina had to assent in a very inmost recess 
 of her being, where cousin Eunice should n't detect 
 a glimmer of it through the windows of her soul. 
 She should like to sit up till all hours herself in 
 the short, starry night. 
 
 " And then they begin washing the decks at 
 such an unearthly hour," she continued severely. 
 " What in the world is that thing they drop right 
 over cousin Eunice's I mean our heads be- 
 fore five o'clock in the morning ? "
 
 22 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Jus' so, miss. That would be the 'oly stone, 
 miss." 
 
 The girl's curving lips twitched. " Holy stone ? 
 Unholy stone, if ever there was one ! It 's an im- 
 position ! " more severely than ever after one glance 
 at Miss Pritchard's countenance. " They should 
 let people sleep some part of the night." 
 
 " Jus' so, miss. If I was capting, they should. 
 'E could give horders, don't you see, w'erehas I 'm 
 only one of the common 'erd, as you might say, 
 miss." 
 
 The man's eyes were twinkling. Perhaps, as in 
 his long experience he had seldom seen a wind- 
 kissed face more evidently blooming with health 
 and spirits than Edwina's, he understood her 
 position. 
 
 Those to whom Neptune's poetry of motion is a 
 hostile exercise can appreciate that there were 
 moments during that voyage when Miss Pritchard 
 did not care if she never again laid eyes upon 
 Edwina, and that during the entire trip she was 
 totally indifferent, when the girl was absent from 
 her sight, as to whom she was with or what she 
 was doing. At last, after what seemed to her a 
 long, indefinite nightmare, in which unreasonably 
 gay couples were always hastening past her chair 
 in procession, at a gait employed on land only when 
 one is late for a train, it seemed to her, she came 
 to herself. Her head felt steady, her loathing of 
 life in general, and meal-hours in particular, de- 
 parted, and she looked upon Edwina with new 
 or rather, the old eyes.
 
 ENGLAND 23 
 
 " I guess I 've been pretty cross, Ned," she re- 
 marked, the evening before they landed. 
 
 " It is very seldom any one is so wretched all the 
 way over," responded the girl. 
 
 " To go to bed in a watery waste night after 
 night, to get up morning after morning still swim- 
 ming, and lurching, and pitching, it 's a good 
 thing I did n't know what was before me." 
 
 " You '11 forget it in a week ; and those must 
 be the lights of Dover ! Oh, cousin Eunice ! It 's 
 England ! Think of it ! We 're really seeing 
 England ! " 
 
 " H'm," dryly. " I hope you '11 like it, for I can 
 assure you you Ve cast the die, Edwina. I shall 
 never take this trip again." 
 
 " Really ? Well, it shan't be pneumonia that 
 prevents you. I 'm going to get your fur collar. 
 It is too cool for you out here." 
 
 She disappeared, leaving her cousin standing 
 alone by the rail. " See there, is n't that like a 
 diamond necklace ? " asked Eunice after a time, 
 as some one, she supposed Edwina, approached and 
 stood beside her in the dusk. 
 
 A man's voice and a strikingly pleasant one 
 replied : " Yes, I fancy that is Folkestone ; but it 
 is enough for you that it is land, I imagine. I 'm 
 glad to see you are feeling well again, Miss 
 Pritchard." 
 
 Eunice stared up into the speaker's face. Like 
 herself, he had discarded the habiliments of the sea, 
 but had he still been in the rough outing clothes
 
 24 MISS PRITCHAR&S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 he had worn, she would have failed to recognize 
 him. The bad dream of the past ten days had 
 been peopled with more or less loathsome human 
 beings, the more objectionable being those who 
 had attempted to talk to her. She judged that this 
 stranger, from his familiarity with her name, must 
 belong to that class. 
 
 "Thank you," she answered, recovering herself. 
 "When people at my age are foolish enough to go 
 to sea, they must take the consequences, and so 
 must their friends. I came on this trip against my 
 better judgment altogether against it." 
 
 " Yes, you told me so that day I helped you to 
 your chair when you could n't find Miss Wilder." 
 
 "H'm. Did I?" 
 
 Miss Pritchard dimly remembered the circum- 
 stance ; but her assistant might have been a tree 
 walking on that occasion, for all the individuality 
 he had assumed to her. She gave another upward 
 side-glance at his smooth face. At the same mo- 
 ment Edwina approached, and nodded to the young 
 man as she placed the collar about her cousin's 
 shoulders. 
 
 " You see, cousin Eunice is quite herself again, 
 Mr. Champion ; but I 'm to take out our naturali- 
 zation papers (if that 's the name of them) as soon 
 after we land as is practicable. She 's never com- 
 ing back." 
 
 The girl's tone was such as she might use to any 
 one of those acquaintances and friends whose roses 
 had been consigned to the deep more than a week
 
 ENGLAND 25 
 
 ago. Miss Pritchard began to consider that there 
 were ten days of her child's life that had been a 
 sealed book to her, Edwina's own particular ship's 
 log, into which she should like to pry. She looked 
 involuntarily through the darkness for more male 
 beings to appear. Nonsense ! This tall personage 
 might have a wife and baby on board. 
 
 No Mrs. Champion, however, appeared at the 
 evening lunch, where Miss Pritchard partook, with 
 the appetite of the hollow, of sandwiches and gin- 
 ger ale which the young man provided. She gave 
 herself up to the feast in genial mood, wondering 
 if it might be the recent starvation of her senses 
 that made her host's manner impress her so agree- 
 ably and his laugh seem, with one exception, the 
 most musical and infectious to which she had ever 
 listened. 
 
 He was very helpful to them in the events of the 
 following morning. He stood in line in the crush 
 of the saloon, and secured their tickets for the train 
 with his own. He helped them through the cus- 
 toms, and chaffed Miss Pritchard about the spirits 
 and tobacco which at the officer's demand she 
 denied having ; and when they all set foot upon 
 English soil, Eunice forgot all apprehension of the 
 Serpent's possible baneful power, in eager reliance 
 upon his wisdom to get them started in this strange 
 land, where Edwina was just ignorant enough to 
 have no fears. 
 
 The sight of the train, so strangely small to 
 American eyes, roused her amazement. The little 
 pea-green engine shrieked.
 
 26 MISS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Looks like a baby, and squeals like one ! " she 
 ejaculated scornfully. 
 
 " Look out, Miss Pritchard, the country of 
 your adoption, you know," warned Champion. He 
 handed his companions into a luxurious carriage, 
 where Eunice sank back upon the fine soft cush- 
 ions and gazed about her. 
 
 " First class," explained Edwina, whom know- 
 ing ones on the ship and her Baedeker had made 
 wise. " Make the most of it, cousin Eunice. 
 You '11 never ride first class again. We 're neither 
 fools nor princes, nor," smiling toward Champion, 
 " nor even Americans any more." 
 
 Arrived in London, their ways parted, and this 
 was the chief fact why Miss Pritchard's heart 
 warmed unusually to Howard Champion. He had 
 been helpful and kind ; so, though his physical 
 man was of a sort to be objectionable to her, her 
 little hand gave his a timid squeeze when he had 
 put them in their cab and said a rather elaborate 
 good-by. He himself was bound for the house of 
 friends. He was an architect, and was going to 
 the cathedral towns almost at once, and for this 
 Eunice, when he turned and replaced his hat, 
 looked after his retiring form approvingly, inas- 
 much as she should never see its well-set-up lines 
 again. 
 
 " And now we 're alone in London," said Ed- 
 wina slowly, large-eyed and solemn, as their horse 
 started. 
 
 " Don't ! You give me a turn ! " exclaimed
 
 ENGLAND 27 
 
 Eunice, her pensive gaze coming back in the deaf- 
 ening turmoil. 
 
 The girl threw an arm around her and gave her 
 a squeeze. " It 's the greatest fun in the world ! " 
 she laughed. " There are two things only that 
 make our happiness precarious : the letter of credit 
 and the address book. If I should lose either 
 of those, it would give me a turn. Baedeker, of 
 course ; but if I lost him, I could buy him again. 
 Oh, I 'm the happiest girl in Europe ! " 
 
 Miss Pritchard regarded her kindling face with 
 dark doubts that she had been gulled. If ever a 
 maid appeared fancy-free, this girl appeared so. 
 If she were so indeed, then what necessity for en- 
 during the writhing misery of that ocean liner, 
 for the unspeakable din at this moment afflicting 
 Eunice's Bostonian ears ? No, it would be too much 
 to acknowledge this upheaval to be for naught. 
 " I nipped it in the bud, that 's all," thought Miss 
 Pritchard stoutly. " I acted promptly. I was in 
 time. The diversion has already been effectual." 
 
 The following days were given to seeing London 
 in the radiant June weather, every window a garden 
 of blossoming flowers, and the blue vault of heaven 
 smiling down upon all. Miss Pritchard caught a 
 bit of her child's enthusiasm even when it took tho 
 form of riding on top of a 'bus from Hyde Park 
 corner up Piccadilly at six o'clock P. M. She held 
 tight to the rail and looked down fearfully on the 
 compact mass of horses and vehicles through which 
 the clever drivers managed to find a way, and tried
 
 28 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 to realize that dying with Edwina would have its 
 compensations. 
 
 The Queen's drawing-room, with Her Majesty 
 at Balmoral and the Princess receiving, was en- 
 tered into by Edwina with most eager zest. " It 
 is good fun to be nobody at all at this sort of thing, 
 unless you can be somebody in particular, because 
 then you can do exactly as you like," she said, get- 
 ting into a cab with passive Miss Pritchard and 
 driving slowly past the long line of carriages wait- 
 ing with their fair freight between St. James Park 
 and the palace, the stiff and pompous coachmen 
 all wearing enormous bouquets on their breasts. 
 
 " How many, many sweet girls ! " exclaimed 
 Edwina, while trying to make her pertinacious 
 gaze seem to fall accidentally on the fresh English 
 faces, from which the white veils swept back. " It 
 is like seeing hundreds of brides in low-necked 
 gowns, and never a bridegroom in sight." 
 
 Miss Pritchard looked admiringly at the won- 
 drous display of rare flowers carried in the fair 
 procession. The champing horses and fine car- 
 riages under the arching trees, the strains of the 
 band in the golden sunshine, the brilliant uniforms 
 of the military, gave her republican soul that odd 
 half-resentful thrill which assails it at the novel 
 approach of royalty. 
 
 " Oh, the Beef-Eaters ! the Beef-Eaters ! " ejac- 
 ulated Edwina. "We must get out." And get 
 out they did, hurriedly paying the cabman and 
 pressing forward for a nearer view of the erect,
 
 ENGLAND 29 
 
 stately old men, gray-bearded, who marched to the 
 Palace from the Tower in the red and gold of their 
 historic uniforms, the crowds held back for their 
 passage. 
 
 Now the coaches of the nobility began to roll 
 by against the background of the verdant park. 
 " They have n't changed a bit since Cinderella's 
 day," said Edwina delightedly. " Same prancing 
 horses, and glitter, and golden splendor, same pow- 
 dered wigs and cocked hats. I know if twelve 
 should strike they would all change back into rats 
 and mice and oh ! cousin Eunice ! there 's Cin- 
 derella quick ! " 
 
 From the window of a golden coach leaned a 
 youthful high-bred face, a coronet jeweled at 
 every point resting on the waves of brown hair. 
 " Do you wish you were in one of those carnages ? " 
 asked Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Of course I do. I would n't be so unnatural 
 as not to wish to be ' presented ' ; but the next best 
 thing is to be one of the hoi polloi and stare my 
 eyes out at the swells and their bushels of orchids." 
 And Edwina seemed to find the next best thing so 
 .satisfactory that Eunice put aside the transient re- 
 gret that her circle of acquaintance did not include 
 a duchess. 
 
 At last came the long-awaited royal carriages. 
 The first, containing the Duke and Duchess of 
 York, was welcomed by the band by one stave of 
 familiar music. 
 
 " Good ! They 're going to play ' America,' "
 
 30 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 said Miss Pritchard. " Why don't they go on with 
 it?" 
 
 " Here come the Prince and Princess, there, 
 now they play more, you see," as the crowd 
 cheered and the band again began with energy. 
 
 "'My country, 'tis of thee,' " hummed Eunice. 
 
 "What's this? what's this? It's high time 
 
 o 
 
 you were learning ' God save our noble Queen ! ' 
 The idea of these hankerings after a country that 
 you have renounced ! Never mind rocks and rills 
 now ! " 
 
 They stood in the crowd until it began to dis- 
 perse. Edwina gave a sigh. " There ! It 's over ! 
 Let 's go over to Hyde Park, since there 's nothing 
 more to be seen here and we 're not asked in." 
 
 " The trees, Edwina. The trees in England are 
 a dream," said Miss Pritchard as they started 
 along Constitution Road, she taking her child's 
 arm in a serenely happy frame of mind. Again 
 the idea came to her, as it had several times done, 
 that she was having the belated joy of the wedding 
 trip she had once dreamed of. One by one her 
 fears were falling away from her, little by little 
 the clouds over her pleasure had rolled away. She 
 had her child all to herself in a strange land, and 
 was giving her an experience and opportunity in 
 which Edwina reveled. Moreover, England in 
 June is of itself enough to uplift the most hard- 
 ened pessimist, and its beauties sank into Eunice's 
 nature-loving soul. Whether they sat, at the rate 
 of tuppence a seat, in Rotten Row, and com-
 
 ENGLAND 31 
 
 mented on the carriage folk, riders, and pedes- 
 trians, or whether they listened to the birds in 
 Kew Gardens and Hampton Court, the vast 
 spreading trees and the flowers were a constant 
 joy to them both. 
 
 No American ever outdid Eunice in awe and 
 admiration of Windsor Castle, set with such im- 
 posing dominance on its green hill. She climbed 
 the heights of its tower and rested on its terraces. 
 She lingered over Henry the Eighth's grave in St. 
 George's Chapel until Edwina assured her that 
 her behavior was indecorous, and would occasion 
 remark ; and by the time they sat down to lunch 
 at The White Hart, over the way from the Castle, 
 they were both weary. 
 
 Edwina had a small plot ripening in her mind, 
 but she was too wise a maiden to reveal it until 
 she had fed and revived Miss Pritchard to the 
 point of enterprise. " I wonder what our little 
 jockey is doing," she remarked as she poured her 
 cousin's tea. 
 
 " Our little what ? " 
 
 " Of course you remember little Johnnie on the 
 boat. I pointed him out to you. That cunning 
 little boy who was a jockey ? " 
 
 "Edwina," severely, "never ask me if I re- 
 member anything on that boat ! " 
 
 " That 's true. You were dead to the world. 
 Well, he was a bright little chap. He used to 
 take me down into the hold to see his horses. 
 They would lean their heads out and whinny when 
 he came near."
 
 32 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " H'm." Miss Pritcliard was somewhat inter- 
 ested in any light thrown on those last days, and a 
 child's company, even a jockey's, must be harm- 
 less. 
 
 " His trainer told me Johnnie had never lost a 
 race, and he had ridden several." 
 
 " For pity's sake, Ned ! What were you think- 
 ing of to be talking with a trainer / " 
 
 " He was a very nice man, and wore almost as 
 many rings as his wife did ; but Johnnie was the 
 simplest, most honest little fellow. I asked him 
 once what he thought of when his horse was win- 
 ning and nearly at the goal. He reflected for a 
 while, and then said : ' I don't have time to think 
 nothinV I should like to see him ride." 
 
 Miss Pritchard was busy with her fried sole, and 
 made no remark. 
 
 " I don't believe he rides at Ascot," hazarded 
 Edwina. 
 
 "No?" 
 
 " The races are going on there to-day." 
 
 " Yes ? Is n't this sole delicious ? " 
 
 When they had finished lunch, and Eunice was 
 leaning back in her chair waiting for the bill to be 
 paid, the placidity of her countenance encouraged 
 her companion to come to the point. 
 
 " It would be pretty good fun to go out to 
 Ascot." 
 
 " When ? " 
 
 "Now." 
 
 " No, no ! Not horse-racing, Ned ! "
 
 ENGLAND 33 
 
 " You need only look at the crowd and the 
 clothes." 
 
 " But we two alone ! Such an ungodly place ! " 
 
 " We must do something, the weather is so 
 heavenly, and we go through Great Windsor Park. 
 It 's a great pity not to see that now we 're so 
 near." 
 
 Edwina observed the expression which the word 
 " park " brought into her cousin's face. " They 
 tell me it is one of the finest about London. It 
 will be our only chance." 
 
 At this Miss Pritchard forgot all about Ascot 
 and that most senseless of diversions, horse-racing, 
 and mounting blithely to the top of an omnibus 
 with her child and a few other belated ones, they 
 set forth through the regal elm avenues of the vast 
 field, her heart swelling with appreciation of the 
 leafy vistas where the dappled deer trod lightly on 
 the velvet green in their lovely isolation. So they 
 might have moved on for hours and Eunice would 
 not have observed the passage of time, but when 
 they emerged into a village street and paused be- 
 fore a tavern, she roused herself from her dreams. 
 
 " Do we get down here ? " she asked vaguely. 
 
 " No, this is only to give the horses the usual 
 buckets of malted milk," replied Edwina, who 
 always sat as close behind the driver as possible, 
 and took great interest in the opaque beverage 
 which regales English 'bus horses. 
 
 " Then where are we going ? " 
 
 " To Ascot," said Edwina sweetly.
 
 34 MISS PRITCHARVS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " My dear, I told you it was against my better 
 judgment " 
 
 " But we can't get anything to drive back in 
 from here." 
 
 " Oh, in that case " and on they went through 
 the winding country lanes, which quickly diverted 
 Miss Pritchard, and which she regretted to ex- 
 change for a scene which caused her to say to her- 
 self with emphasis that " only man is vile." 
 
 They dismounted from their plebeian vehicle 
 when it had worked its way among every species 
 of wheeled conveyance, and Edwina's eyes danced 
 as with her bewildered cousin clinging to her she 
 moved over the yielding turf toward an amazing 
 din of conflicting orchestrions in the side-shows 
 facing the track ; but before they had reached their 
 clamor, a sweet fluty note, strange and charming, 
 made the couple turn here and there to place the 
 mellow whistle ; and at the same moment they 
 looked and pointed delightedly at the brown atom 
 wheeling toward the earth. 
 
 " It can't be a very bad place where a skylark 
 comes," said Eunice hopefully. 
 
 "I don't know. Larks are considered ques- 
 tionable." 
 
 " To think I 've really seen a skylark ! " 
 
 " We '11 see everything ! " declared Edwina ex- 
 ultantly. 
 
 " And hear everything ! " groaned Eunice, for 
 their rapid walk brought them toward the bellow- 
 ing lungs of brass which were defying each other
 
 ENGLAND 36 
 
 with different tunes, neither of which had any hope 
 of victory. 
 
 Delicate costumes trailed across the grass ; 
 horses and jockeys were gathering at one end of 
 the field for the principal race of the day. The 
 grand stand was black with spectators. Yet the 
 side-shows did not despair of patronage. Eunice's 
 amazed eyes beheld one tent over which was a gro- 
 tesque painting labeled " The Elephant-Man from 
 Indiana, America," and for fear that this adver- 
 tisement was not sufficiently noticeable, a man 
 stood before the tent-curtain and rang a large din- 
 ner-bell with might and main. 
 
 " Come away ! come away ! " begged Eunice. 
 
 Edwina obediently moved along, her mind intent 
 on securing a place so close to the track that Miss 
 Pritchard's short stature should not deprive her 
 of the sight. Eunice still clung to her, divided 
 between admiration of the wide green fields and 
 airy summer costumes, and shrinking from the 
 pandemonium of the merry-go-rounds and the 
 flight of excited horses as they skimmed by in 
 the race. 
 
 At the climax of excitement, her doubts as to 
 whether she were happy or miserable were settled 
 by the advance of a shabby man with a bag who 
 pressed upon her a small tract headed in capitals, 
 The Eternity Stakes, and proving under three 
 divisions, The Start, The Race, and The Finish, 
 that all this hilarious, betting crowd and those who 
 consorted with them were well started on that
 
 36 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 track which leads with increasing swiftness down- 
 ward. Its accusing head-lines seemed set to the 
 screech of the orchestrions. 
 
 " Edwina, we must go ! " ejaculated Miss Pritch- 
 ard in a sort of frenzy, just as every one about her 
 seemed caught in a storm of excitement. 
 
 " Was n't that great ? " exclaimed the rosy girl, 
 joining in the applause that drowned the lessening 
 hoof-beats, the applause again being drowned in 
 mad cheers of victory. " And Johnnie was n't 
 there at all ! They were all much bigger than 
 Johnnie. Oh, I 'm afraid that 's the last, cousin 
 Eunice, by the way the people are moving. 
 Were n't we lucky ? We 're always lucky." Her 
 eyes were sparkling, and she squeezed her cousin's 
 hand against her side triumphantly. 
 
 " We should n't have come. It 's wicked. Let 's 
 hurry away," returned Eunice with agitation, pull- 
 ing toward the distant road. 
 
 " Did n't you like it ? Did n't that rush make 
 your cheeks tingle ? " Edwina moved with her in 
 the stream of people, laughing at the tremors she 
 could not understand. " What is wicked about 
 seeing those beautiful horses let out their strength ? 
 They enjoyed it as much as the skylark reveled 
 in his song." 
 
 Half a sob caught in Miss Pritchard's throat. 
 " That little lark did n't know what company he 
 was in, I 'm sure of that ; but neither did we ; and 
 now we '11 just find that 'bus and get back to Lon- 
 don as soon as we can. Don't you think if you
 
 ENGLAND 37 
 
 should fee the driver, he 'd go fast, Edwina ? I 'm 
 sure we shall be very late at best." 
 
 The careless crowd pressing upon and by them 
 brought Edwina to a realization of the situation. 
 She ceased smiling, and began to look industri- 
 ously about her in search of a conveyance as she 
 hastened her steps. Rough men were swarming 
 upon the public conveyances like flies, and shout- 
 ing as they drove away. It was a bewildering sit- 
 uation. Several times the girl tried to mount into 
 a vehicle, only to be told in no gentle tone that it 
 was engaged. She did not know where to turn, 
 and as the distance to Windsor and thence to Lon- 
 don loomed before her mental vision, she refrained 
 from consulting her watch lest her dismal appre- 
 hensions should be verified. 
 
 The nonchalant and cool manner which she 
 managed to retain while she scrutinized the situa- 
 tion exasperated rather than soothed her compan- 
 ion. " It was against my better judgment that we 
 came to Europe at all," she mourned as a burly 
 man knocked against her little shoulder in passing. 
 " If we had n't come I should n't have been sick 
 on the ship, and you would n't have gone about 
 with swearing horse-racers, and you 'd never have 
 thought of coming here to the land's end, where 
 folks are most likely betting and going to kill 
 themselves, and don't tread on my toes, you big 
 loafer ! and we Ve got to stay here all night, and 
 perhaps Oh ! " the exclamation was in a tone of 
 sudden frenzy, and to Edwina's astonishment Miss
 
 38 MISS PEITCHARVS WEDDING TEIP 
 
 Pritchard dropped her arm and slipped through 
 the crowd. 
 
 A pair of horses impeding her a moment, the 
 girl, when she had managed to cross the street, 
 beheld her cousin clasping the hand of a tall man 
 in both her own and pouring forth upon him a 
 flood of eloquence. Pleasure was struggling with 
 mystification in his face, and triumphed when he 
 saw Edwina, who instinctively stiffened. 
 
 " Dear me, Mr. Champion, how my cousin's on- 
 slaught must have surprised you," she said, receiv- 
 ing his eager greeting with a passively yielded 
 hand. " Is she casting two damsels on your mercy, 
 as if you were a knight of old ? The conveyances 
 here seem to have no system, but I am sure we 
 shall soon find one." 
 
 The young man had no mustache into which to 
 smile his amusement, so he bowed respectful assent 
 and would have spoken except that Eunice struck 
 in nervously. 
 
 " You know we shan't, Edwina ! We 've tried 
 and tried, and it 's a perfect Providence that I saw 
 Mr. Champion just as I was ready to cry. How 
 are you going back?" turning to him again, as if 
 the very sight of his cool, strong face promised 
 relief. 
 
 "I am a guest on that drag over there," indi- 
 cating with a motion of his head a gay party who 
 with their four glistening horses seemed ready to 
 start. 
 
 " And they are waiting for you," said Edwina,
 
 ENGLAND 39 
 
 her acute annoyance struggling into her quiet tone. 
 " Pray don't stay a moment. The crowd makes 
 cousin Eunice nervous, but she may trust me ; 
 there are a dozen ways that we can get back. Go 
 at once, please ! " 
 
 The light in her eyes reduced Miss Pritchard to 
 speechless supplication. 
 
 " Oh, that 's all right," said Champion carelessly. 
 " It is a confusing place. Just stand here a minute, 
 will you ? " 
 
 He strode away, and Edwina saw him make a 
 gesture toward his party and then disappear. 
 With nervous energy she again looked about her, 
 and asking her cousin to wait where she was, she 
 ran up to many species of vehicles, some in such 
 a ramshackle condition that ordinarily she would 
 not consider their possibility, and demanded, even 
 pleaded, for places for two. A little matter of 
 money should not prevent her from meeting Cham- 
 pion on his return with polite thanks and expla- 
 nation that, places having offered, she had already 
 secured them. 
 
 No one would have her, although refusals were 
 sometimes softened by reference to her bonny face, 
 which changed it to a crimson. Oftener a blunt 
 " Now ! " discouraged her efforts, and still the 
 luckier crowd swarmed into the places awaiting 
 them, and at last a desperate call from Miss Pritch- 
 ard brought her reluctant feet back to where she 
 had left her. 
 
 Champion was getting out of a low, black, open
 
 40 MISS PRITCRARiyS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 wagon, and while he handed eager Miss Pritchard 
 to her place, he addressed her cousin. " Only two 
 other passengers, and they look inoffensive. Sorry 
 I could n't get you something loftier, for I am 
 afraid you will catch the dust." 
 
 " I 'm sure we thank you very much," said 
 Edwina as she seated herself. 
 
 " Oh, indeed we do ! " added Eunice with fervor. 
 "You know I told you it was against my bet- 
 ter " 
 
 The wagon rattled off, and she waved her hand 
 toward the lifted hat. 
 
 " What an elegant turnout that was of his ! " 
 said Miss Pritchard. " What," rolling up her eyes, 
 " what a time we have had ! " 
 
 " You make too much of it," said the girl curtly. 
 " If Mr. Glenn were here, he would say you have 
 no sporting blood." 
 
 " Mr. Glenn her first thought," reflected 
 Eunice. " I should hope not," she said devoutly. 
 " We went into it innocently, Edwina. People 
 get drawn along through beautiful places where 
 there are deer and larks, and never think of the 
 pit they may be approaching. Look at this." She 
 put the lurid tract into her child's hand. 
 
 Edwina examined it listlessly, and gave a short, 
 scornful laugh. " ' The road to ruin ! ' What do 
 I care for the lake of brimstone after this mortify- 
 ing experience ! Yes," for her cousin started and 
 stared, "how could you let Mr. Champion know 
 what a position we were in, jostling in that dis-
 
 ENGLAND 41 
 
 gusting beery crowd, and being brushed off every 
 conveyance we tried for as if we were flies ! " 
 
 Her astonished companion stammered : "I I 
 why, Edwina " 
 
 " I 'd rather have stayed there all night yes, 
 in the tent with the elephant-man, than have met 
 him ! " 
 
 " Edwina," looking appealingly into the flashing 
 eyes, " you said only the other day you liked to be 
 nobody in particular one of the crowd so you 
 could do as you wished." 
 
 " Where I 'm not known. You made us known. 
 You made all that drag party wait while Mr. 
 Champion, a stranger, rushed about in the dust for 
 two senseless women who had n't had forethought 
 to make the simplest arrangements for themselves, 
 and who did n't hesitate to take advantage of their 
 slight acquaintance with him." 
 
 " Dear me, Edwina! " was all Eunice could say, 
 and she looked appalled. Never in the girl's life 
 had she spoken to her in such a manner. 
 
 So they sat for a time in silence, each confront- 
 ing her own disquiet, while the rattle of the com- 
 fortless wagon filled their ears as it had covered 
 their speech from the curiously gazing man and 
 woman who were their companions. 
 
 Slowly the girl's pulses grew calmer, and annoy- 
 ance at her own excitement surmounted her morti- 
 fication. " I am exaggerating absurdly," she said 
 to herself, although her pride continued to assert 
 loudly that to-morrow and for many to-morrows the
 
 42 MISS PEITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 picture of the gay company on the drag waiting 
 while Miss Pritchard clung to and detained one of 
 their number would make her warm. Her eyes 
 fell upon her cousin's averted face, and a wave of 
 contrition swept through her. It had been her 
 own determination that had lured the little woman 
 to Ascot, and her own inexperience and thought- 
 lessness which had placed them in an embarrassing 
 position, and had not Miss Pritchard behaved so 
 impulsively, what proof had she that they would 
 now be on the much-desired road to Windsor ? 
 
 There was nothing in the peculiar relation 
 between Edwina and her cousin to have caused the 
 former ever to dwell upon the debt of gratitude 
 she owed her, from a material standpoint. From 
 that first day when Eunice caressed her wavy head 
 with such timid, fervent affection, and the lonely 
 child had gone gladly in to fill the place that was 
 waiting for her, there had been no calculation or 
 conscious sense of duty in either toward the other. 
 
 Edwina knew she was the sun of Eunice's world, 
 and knew that in the beginning this had been be- 
 cause Eunice had loved her father only, of all men ; 
 and any sense of her own dependence on her cousin 
 had always been swallowed up in the knowledge, 
 affectionately and chivalrously entertained, of Miss 
 Pritchard's dependence upon her. A vague sense 
 of having been false to a trust assailed her now 
 as she regarded the little figure with the averted 
 face ; and a smile and a tear both rose at the reali- 
 zation of this dismal return from the races in dis-
 
 ENGLAND 43 
 
 tinction from the festive pictures usually connected 
 with Ascot. Clouds of dust were powdering their 
 hats and gowns, and close in Eunice's thin little 
 hand was grasped the tract with its promises of 
 sojourn in a locality where such reckless indulgence 
 as the present excursion would be atoned for eter- 
 nally. 
 
 The smile triumphed. Edwina put her arm 
 around the little dusty shoulders. " Don't you 
 care," she said cheerfully. 
 
 "I won't if you don't," returned Miss Pritchard, 
 turning and seeking the renewed sunshine of her 
 child's eyes eagerly. " I had n't an idea, Edwina, 
 that you disliked Mr. Champion so." 
 
 This, then, was the fruit of Eunice's puzzled 
 reflections. 
 
 " We '11 have a fine breathing spell going through 
 the park," said the girl, " and get away from the 
 dust. Let's throw away this little bit of good 
 cheer," unloosening her cousin's hand from the 
 tract. " It might frighten the deer." 
 
 Miss Pritchard yielded the paper. " I don't 
 really think we 've had a good enough time to be 
 punished for," she said, so naively that the girl 
 smiled again. She had had a good time and a- 
 punishment in rapid succession ; and if she had 
 deserved the latter, could, according to her cousin's 
 code, start square again with the world. 
 
 The drive through the park in the late afternoon 
 was a refreshment, and still further soothed the 
 two excursionists. Eunice's eyes looked happily
 
 44 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 out through her dusty veil on the acres of velvet 
 turf, where the starlings ran hither and yon, and 
 fawns disported themselves beneath the symmet- 
 rical giant trees. This was no place to read the 
 little red tract. Fragrance, song, innocence, con- 
 tentment, were in the air. 
 
 " Beautiful England, Edwina ! " she breathed, 
 leaning back in the hollow of the girl's arm. 
 
 " Beautiful England, cousin Eunice."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 WALES 
 
 COMMEMORATION WEEK at Oxford was drawing 
 near, and Edwina knew that the only hope of a 
 glimpse of those classic shades was in hastening 
 away now from London. She was an energetic 
 girl, with her wits about her usually, and her di- 
 lemma at Ascot had determined her never to make 
 another fiasco in her position of courier for lack 
 of foresight. 
 
 " One more visit to the Abbey ? " pleaded Miss 
 Pritchard. 
 
 " When we 're living here there will be time 
 enough for that." 
 
 " And going away from the Bow Bells ! " went 
 on Eunice sentimentally. 
 
 " It 's now or never at Oxford," returned Ed- 
 wina firmly ; and so they took the train. 
 
 " I don't like to be locked in," said Miss Pritch- 
 ard, when the guard had slammed the door. 
 
 " Why ? Do you want to get out ? " for the train 
 was gaining speed. 
 
 u It 's the idea," explained Eunice ; but she soon 
 forgot the natural American resentment of protec- 
 tion, in pleasure at the charming landscape.
 
 46 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Mr. Julian Ralph protested against the casting 
 aside of a scrap of paper in an English street by 
 another American, saying, " Man, what are you 
 doing ? You '11 spoil England ! " And this order 
 and culture and verdant charm of the whole coun- 
 try began to impress itself more and more on the 
 travelers. No waste or neglected spot met their 
 admiring eyes ; but Edwina soon began to read 
 her Baedeker, and study her address book. She 
 had already done what she could by writing, but 
 not having succeeded in receiving a definite pro- 
 mise of an abiding-place, it was a relief on reach- 
 ing Oxford to find a house where they could be 
 lodged for the short time that intervened before 
 that gala week for which every nook and corner in 
 the town had been engaged long before. 
 
 The knowledge that their hours were few lent 
 an extra zest to the pleasure of roaming through 
 the colleges with their flowery quadrangles, cool 
 cloisters, and ivy-clad walls. The Memorial Hall 
 and kitchen at Christ Church College the por- 
 traits in the one and the enormous fireplace in the 
 other, were, Miss Pritchard said, worth untold 
 pages of English history to her, and brought Car- 
 dinal "VVolsey's day and his interests very close. 
 Edwina could hardly tear her from a fascinated 
 regard of three huge roasts turning at one time on 
 the spit before the glowing expanse of fire in the 
 kitchen, where a great turtle winked reflectively, 
 biding its time. 
 
 The girl had an ambition to go on the Thames
 
 WALES 47 
 
 in a punt, so she led her cousin to the riverside, 
 only to find to Miss Pritchard's secret satisfac- 
 tion that all the boats were engaged. They 
 looked curiously at the house-boats moored along 
 the bare shore, which rather disappointed Edwina 
 by its lack of picturesqueness. Another and nar- 
 rower stream tempted them out of the hot sunshine 
 to explore its shaded banks. It was the Cherwell 
 River, and here were the poetry and charm that the 
 girl had sought. The smooth grass grew down to 
 the water's edge. Old trees hung out over the 
 stream, extending leafy boughs in dense arches. 
 The river wound murmurously between its velvet 
 banks, and Miss Pritchard and Edwina sat down 
 in the dreamy quiet, and watched the luxurious 
 students whose punts and canoes glided into sight 
 in endless lazy procession around the bend of the 
 stream. Prostrate among downy cushions, a young 
 man in white flannels, feet in the air and a pipe 
 in his mouth, was buried in the pages of a book, 
 while at the stern of his boat another youth silently 
 and pensively propelled the floating couch. This 
 picture was repeated ad infinitum. 
 
 " And to think," said Edwina, " that we shall 
 never know if those patient punters ever get their 
 innings and lie down in those cushions while the 
 sybarites take their turn at toiling. Cousin Eu- 
 nice," after a moment of listening to the bird-songs 
 trilling on the air, " I 've decided I 'd rather be an 
 Oxford student than anything." 
 
 Miss Pritchard smiled. " If you could have all
 
 48 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 your desires granted, I should have a queer travel- 
 ing companion. Let me see. You 've wanted to 
 be a porpoise, and a maid of honor, an English 
 robin, a horse jockey " 
 
 " But you can see for yourself that Oxford stu- 
 dents have the pleasantest time in the world ; and 
 is n't it a shame we have to be driven out of town ? 
 There do seem to be such a lot of places where 
 we 're not invited. Oh, do look at those green re- 
 flections in the water and we have to go away ! 
 Come, cousin Eunice, I 'm panic-stricken for fear 
 we 're missing something." 
 
 She rose and gave a hand to her companion, and 
 together they strolled along the Broad Walk with 
 its avenue of magnificent trees surrounding the 
 living green of Christ Church meadow. 
 
 " Be a porpoise or a student, or both, if you like, 
 Edwina," said her cousin impressively, "but I 
 shall be a poet if we stay in England much longer." 
 
 " I know it. I don't revere Tennyson nearly so 
 much as I did, for how could he help it ? " 
 
 The following morning found the pair under the 
 climbing roses and vines of Magdalen College. 
 They stood in the cloister and listened, thrilled, to 
 singing which came from behind the closed doors of 
 the chapel. Then they passed out upon the little 
 bridge, overgrown with moss and ivy, that spans 
 the narrow river as it steals quietly beneath the 
 gray old walls. They watched the fish disporting 
 themselves in the clear water, lovingly regarded 
 the lofty trees, beginning at the very ground to
 
 WALES 49 
 
 bear their lavishly generous boughs. Then, tempted 
 into Addison's walk, they took the long ramble 
 through its shade and were happy. 
 
 " Perhaps it is a good thing there is a serpent 
 in Eden," said Miss Pritchard with a sigh. 
 
 " You mean the bells during the night ? " for 
 Eunice, the sensitive and nervous, had already 
 mentioned her woes. " They were pretty bad. 
 They even disturbed me." 
 
 " So, beautiful as it is, I think one more night 
 of hearing a chorus of bells bang out ' Three Blind 
 Mice,' not quite together, for hours at a stretch, 
 will satisfy me." 
 
 " They did do that," assented Edwina with a 
 laugh. " I felt like imploring them just to go on 
 to the next stave ' See how they run ' ! " 
 
 " They '11 ' see how they run ' to-morrow if they 
 watch us," returned Eunice. 
 
 Edwina had noticed an advertisement that 
 " Much Ado About Nothing " was to be given that 
 night in one of the college gardens, so she and 
 Eunice, after their long, happy day, took their 
 way thither when the sun was low in the west. 
 As they entered the grounds the birds were pour- 
 ing forth vespers in the massive trees. The turf, 
 fine and smooth as pile of velvet, yielded beneath 
 their feet. Climbing roses, large and red, swung 
 in the faint, cool breeze. The stage was built 
 about a clump of old elms and blossoming shrubs, 
 and completely carpeted with turf. An invisible 
 orchestra began to play the music of the garden
 
 50 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 scene from " Faust." Eunice and Edwina sank 
 into their places in silence. Just as the sunset 
 turned gorgeously crimson, the play commenced. 
 There might have been faults to be found with 
 that representation, but our couple saw none. To 
 them, as the actors in their quaint costumes came 
 and went, pushing aside the branches of the trees 
 as they made their entrances and exits, the illusion 
 was perfect. It was the time of Shakespeare, and 
 this was no play, but reality. 
 
 As the sun colors faded, the moon rose behind 
 the stage while yet the daylight lingered ; and 
 as twilight darkened, a lime-light cleverly assisted 
 the beams of Lady Luna, shining softly through 
 the leafy screen. Eunice and Edwina observed 
 nothing artificial, but sat silent, hand in hand, en- 
 tranced, until came the full surrender of piquant, 
 teasing Beatrice. Then with a long breath they 
 looked about them, the harmony of invisible glees 
 and part-songs still in their ears. The gardens 
 were full of shadows. The trees loomed, huge 
 black spheres and ovals, against the sky. Colored 
 designs in myriad fairy lamps gleamed among the 
 grasses, while garlands of airy lanterns swung 
 their soft brightness overhead. 
 
 Walking slowly, Eunice and Edwina came out 
 from this enchanted land, talking low. As they 
 pursued their way through a silent and deserted 
 street, they looked and wondered at a cross upraised 
 in its stony pavement. It marked the spot where 
 Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer were burned ; but
 
 WALES 51 
 
 Baedeker was at home, so the spell of the comedy 
 of ye olden tyme which still held them remained 
 unbroken by a reminder of its tragedy. 
 
 From Oxford they pursued the usual path of the 
 tourist through England's garden spots, strayed to 
 their hearts' content about Warwick Castle, and 
 sighed speechless over the gentle beauty of the 
 Avon and its Fall. They clambered through Ken- 
 nilworth's grand empty spaces, and one day drove 
 to Stratford with a little old Irish driver, who 
 at one point dismounted to give them a spirited 
 account of the occasion when Shakespeare was ap- 
 prehended for poaching in this very field. He bal- 
 anced his short body in its battered tall hat over 
 the stile, to show them how the treacherous bars 
 gave way with the bard as he endeavored to flee, 
 and thereby threw him into the hands of justice. 
 
 They inspected Shakespeare's bare cottage and 
 the flowery, cosy homeliness of Anne Hathaway's ; 
 strolled up the stately arching avenue of limes to 
 the church where Shakespeare is buried ; then 
 back in the windless crystal air through the win- 
 ning pictures of the rural landscape stretching 
 far, far away, and all enchantment in the June 
 weather. 
 
 Next they moved on to Wales, and sitting on the 
 pier at Llandudno, far out in the beating waves, 
 thousands of feet from the shore, listened to the 
 orchestra and looked at the wide semicircle of bare 
 rocky cliffs which surrounded the city, while the 
 sea-gulls wheeled and darted above the dashing
 
 52 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 spray. The Welsh names of places, and especially 
 of houses, excited Miss Pritchard to the point of 
 rebellion. 
 
 " You can't tell me those words mean anything ! " 
 she said one day, regarding the grouped conso- 
 nants above the door of a modest home. 
 
 " I think myself they just catch up a handful of 
 the alphabet, throw it at the front door, and accept 
 the consequences," returned Edwina. 
 
 Conway Castle, with its towers, its drawbridge, 
 and its moat, stirred every line of legendary ro- 
 mance that had ever entered into the girl's heart. 
 They climbed the staircases into its vacant echoing 
 rooms and sat in the deep stone embrasures of 
 windows set in walls fifteen feet thick, and thence 
 looked out upon the same landscape that had 
 greeted the eyes of many a tight-sleeved, long- 
 haired Eleanor and Margaret of past centuries, 
 one of whom Edwina promptly expressed a wish 
 to be. 
 
 " I wish I were this minute hearing the hoofs of 
 my good knight's charger, pawing the stones in the 
 courtyard ! " 
 
 " I guess you 'd be thinking more about hot 
 water bags than chargers if you had to sit on these 
 stone seats in November," returned her cousin. 
 
 " You forget my fur-trimmed robes," said Ed- 
 wina loftily, " and the minions that would be run- 
 ning around with braziers of coals for my slippered 
 feet." 
 
 "Humph! I think you would soon be begging
 
 WALES 53 
 
 to be put to sleep again until the day of sealskins 
 and steam heat and cushioned divans." 
 
 " Tush ! tush ! Marry come up ! I will not tilt 
 with thee ! " and Edwina rose from her rock-bench 
 and led the way down past the ivy-clad walls of the 
 ruined courtyard, endeavoring to trail after her the 
 clinging robes of an Ermengarde. 
 
 Not to land with too sudden a shock in the nine- 
 teenth century, they walked over to Plas Mawr, a 
 home of the year 1530, which has been maintained 
 unaltered since those occasions when Queen Eliza- 
 beth made use of it. Her own and Robert Dudley's 
 initials appear upon the dark carven walls of its 
 low-ceiled, rambling rooms. It is built about an 
 ivy-grown courtyard, and the latticed windows and 
 enormous fireplaces were unhesitatingly dubbed 
 " stunning " by Edwina. 
 
 " They were coming along in those days, com- 
 ing along," admitted Miss Pritchard leniently. 
 " This is a long step ahead of Conway Castle." 
 
 " A step ahead ! Is n't everybody trying now 
 to make houses as like this as they possibly can ? " 
 
 " Well, they don't force you to duck in the door- 
 ways," returned Eunice, for the girl's hat was 
 smartly bumped as she passed from one room to 
 the next. 
 
 " You think too much of detail," said Edwina, 
 rearranging her crushed bows with dignity. 
 
 " There are two things here that make me feel 
 very far from home," said Miss Pritchard, when 
 they had returned to Llandudno and were listen-
 
 54 JtflSS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ing for the last time to the orchestra on the pier. 
 " One is when the band plays 'America ' and every 
 Englishman takes off his hat, and I realize it is n't 
 our hymn, and the other is that" Eunice pointed 
 to a long painted sign which stretched from end to 
 end of one of the restaurants on the pier : " We 
 make a speciality of the famous American bonbon 
 known as popcorn ! " 
 
 The following day they took the coach for Bettws- 
 y-Coed. The bugle blew, the four horses started, 
 and soon left behind the bare grandeur of the Great 
 Orme for the wooded hills and vales beyond Con- 
 way's gray towers. Eain had been threatening, 
 and soon fell in soft showers, and there was a great 
 opening and shutting of umbrellas on the coach. 
 
 Edwina looked fondly at her new London um- 
 brella, of which she had taken such fond care that 
 her companion had dubbed it " the baby." It had 
 a pinkish translucent carnelian ball for a handle. 
 Edwina had ransacked London to find the stone, 
 and valued it accordingly. She had had the um- 
 brella made in the Strand, and considered it the 
 satisfactory child of her own brain. 
 
 " We don't need two umbrellas, cousin Eunice," 
 she remarked as another shower fell, and many 
 silken collisions took place on the crowded coach. 
 " I '11 stand the baby up between us and hold yours 
 over us both." 
 
 When the clouds again parted and the tents were 
 furled, Edwina looked down only to suspect a tra- 
 gedy. In sudden dread she pulled her dress aside.
 
 WALES 55 
 
 Near her feet where she sat at the front of the 
 coach, yawned a treacherous gap. It was too true . 
 Silently, without a moan of farewell, the baby had 
 slipped away. Its slender form, its translucent rosy 
 countenance, the rich, neat necktie of cord and tas- 
 sels under its smooth chin, had never seemed so 
 charming to its bereaved owner as now, in the light 
 of memory. 
 
 " My umbrella is gone ! " 
 
 " No ! " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 Sympathetic stirring and lifting of skirts on the 
 coach, where every ramshackle and aged parachute 
 was safe. Frenzied appeal to the guard, who pro- 
 mised to make inquiries on the return trip, and was 
 helped to this resolution by a generous bribe as 
 well as promises of future reward ; all destined to 
 be in vain, as Edwina well knew. However, Bet- 
 tws-y-Coed was in sight ; and is there any minor 
 ill, even that of losing one's pet London umbrella, 
 which Bettws is powerless to heal ? I trow not. 
 
 This fairy-tale village, with its one street nestled 
 at the foot of rising tiers of verdant hills, is a bower 
 of beauty, a haven of rest. Its roses climb higher 
 and bloom larger and for a longer time than else- 
 where. Its rivers are more hopelessly and fascinat- 
 ingly tangled in their wooded curves than others. 
 Its forests are wound each tree- trunk with a 
 tiny species of glossy ivy, as if for a fete, while 
 ferns and moss massed in the grass beneath carry 
 out the decorative idea ; and the rivers, racing
 
 56 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 through, plunge in merry little waterfalls from 
 rock to rock. They hold plenty of salmon, too, 
 which come hard and pink to the table. The love- 
 liness of the deep glens takes the breath ; and the 
 bird-songs are certainly not set to Welsh words. 
 Dwygyfyleln was one to which Miss Pritchard took 
 especial exception ; but, " What 's in a name ? " 
 Edwina reminded her soothingly. "When one 
 can lodge in such a village, and have Hovis bread, 
 unsalted butter, clotted cream, and strawberries for 
 breakfast, who can complain ? " 
 
 They took coaching trips for many miles about, 
 and Eunice forgot the woes of trying to pronounce 
 Gryffydd and Glyndwr in pure rapture at nature's 
 unspoiled beauty. Whether it were the rich weight 
 of the sycamores overhanging the rivers, or the 
 bare green of the smooth, rolling hills on the road 
 to Beddgelert, she still confided to Edwina that 
 she felt yearnings towards bursts of poetry. 
 
 It was on the Fourth of July that they mounted 
 the coach for the ride to Beddgelert, and a keen 
 and nipping air sent the collars of golf capes up 
 about the passengers' ears as the bugle blew and 
 the strong horses set off under the clear sky. The 
 driver's high white hat had apparently just received 
 a fresh application of kalsomine. His tight cor- 
 duroy trousers fitted inside his boots, and his legs 
 described a horseshoe curve. Plis scarlet coat was 
 scarce brighter than his cropped hair, and his 
 weather-beaten face was as expressionless as if 
 carved in wood ; but the hearts of our travelers
 
 WALES 57 
 
 warmed to him for his wondrous management of 
 his horses. No other goad than a low whistle was 
 needed to increase their speed to a gallop when the 
 heavy coach must thunder up a hill. Not the least 
 of Britain's glory is that there preeminently one 
 sees horses treated as the friends rather than the 
 enemies of man, that is, after the mutilation of 
 their tails has been accomplished. 
 
 Past the Swallow Falls with their myriad rest- 
 less white wings went the coach. Past low, thick 
 stone walls, moss-cushioned, while the Glaslyn River 
 (plate-Glaslyn, Edwina immediately re-christened 
 it) flowed clear and full beside them as they wound 
 toward the Vale of Gwynant, crown of beauty in 
 the Welsh landscape. When the coach reached 
 this spot it stopped in the road that leads across 
 the mountain-side. Below them lay a vast emerald 
 valley and in its centre Glaslyn Lake, sparkling 
 back like a diamond to the deepening blue above. 
 Opposite rose green mountains, tier on tier, over- 
 topped by majestic Snowdon ; and down their sides 
 in steep foaming waterfalls fell the rivers, stream- 
 ing lakeward. So crystalline was the air, and so 
 still, that the only proof of the distance of these 
 hills was the motionless silence of the falls lying 
 against their green sides like oblong masses of 
 snow. 
 
 " No brush could paint it, no words describe it," 
 murmured Eunice with her child's hand in hers. 
 
 " I 'm glad we have a poet in the family," re- 
 turned the girl. " When are you going to begin? "
 
 58 MISS PRITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " It is a sight to remember in trouble," went on 
 Eunice. " Such peace I have never dreamed of. 
 We can always recall this in noisy, harassing 
 places. We know that up here, far from any 
 dwelling, is a retreat where peace is. 
 
 Vale of Gwynant, happy valley 
 Where the sun is ever shining " 
 
 she paused. 
 
 " Go on, cousin Eunice ! " laughed Edwina 
 softly. " You really are catching the divine spark. 
 You can do something fine with ' repining ' in the 
 next line but one." 
 
 Miss Pritchard laughed too, and blushed as the 
 coach rolled on. She wondered if it were really 
 her little dull self, glowing and enjoying in this 
 new, old world.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 WINDEKMERE 
 
 " BUT you 're always going away from places," 
 protested Eunice plaintively one evening when Ed- 
 wina announced that it was time to take up the 
 line of march. 
 
 " And don't you always like the new one ? " 
 asked the girl. 
 
 They were sitting by the still pool, a widening 
 of the river Conway, close to the churchyard, where 
 the water falls into pensive mood and holds a pol- 
 ished mirror to the sky. Gazing downward into 
 the liquid depths they could see birds dipping and 
 soaring above a cloud-flecked firmament, and losing 
 themselves in the pictured woods, in dream-like 
 fashion. 
 
 " We do very well here," said Miss Pritchard, 
 looking wistfully off to where the river again 
 flowed swiftly as it wound away beneath the over- 
 hanging fans of the sycamores. " I doubt if we 
 find red and white striped roses anywhere else, or 
 such low walls to hang over and watch the tum- 
 bling waterfalls. Oh ! I 'm sure there 's no place 
 like Betsy ! " for in such simple fashion had Eunice 
 relieved herself of the attempt to pronounce Bettws- 
 y-Coed.
 
 60 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 A rabbit started up near them and gazed big- 
 eyed at the pair. 
 
 " And of course we shall never find a cook like 
 Mrs. Thomas," rejoined Edwina pensively. " There 
 is something so ingratiating in the attitude of the 
 chicken she sends up, with its neat little bacon pan- 
 talets, and its heart and gizzard tucked under its 
 arm." 
 
 The pool turned pink. " Come, cousin Eunice, 
 one more walk around the meadow." 
 
 They rose, and the rabbit vanished into its bur- 
 row, only to lift its big eyes once more to watch 
 the intruders move down the wooded path as they 
 sauntered on to meet the Llugwy River, dancing 
 ever round its green curve, to be lost in the em- 
 brace of the Conway and flow away to the sea. 
 
 Reluctantly next day the travelers slid out of 
 this fairyland down to earth again, landing at 
 Chester. Beneath the lofty vault of its cathedral 
 Eunice listened to the angelic voices of the choir, 
 and with mounting tears gave thanks for her mani- 
 fold blessings. It seemed to her that all the nov- 
 elty and recreation of a lifetime were being pressed 
 into these days of kaleidoscopic variety. Whether 
 marveling at the palatial wonders of Eton Hall, 
 set in its spacious and rural park, or leaning on 
 Edwina's arm and wandering in the " Rows " at 
 night, gazing into shop-windows, it was all delight- 
 ful. 
 
 One thing hard for her to fathom was the diffi- 
 culty in this strange, quaint land, of procuring
 
 WINDEEMERE 61 
 
 a drink of water. Often in a restaurant they 
 found that the request for this beverage created 
 confusion and dismay; and after an incredibly 
 long wait, the tepid liquid that was brought was 
 only an exasperation. The peculiarity of English 
 taste was beginning to dawn upon Miss Pritchard. 
 " Think of a land," she exclaimed with uplifted 
 hands, " where they always serve the water warm 
 and the toast cold ! " 
 
 " But look at their complexions," said Edwina. 
 
 " It 's too late for me to think of a complexion. 
 I 'd give a dollar for a tumbler of ice-water when I 
 want it. There will be comfort in getting back to 
 a place where it does n't require an act of Congress 
 before you can quench your thirst." 
 
 " Oh, you are going back some day, are you?" 
 
 " I dread the very thought of it," returned Eu- 
 nice promptly, " but I really think of hanging a 
 card around my neck as they do on dogs : ' Please 
 give me a drink ! ' ' 
 
 " They would n't give you water if you did," 
 remarked Edwina. 
 
 It was on Lake Windermere that they found an 
 abiding-place so alluring that they lingered there 
 for weeks. It was an old farmhouse rambling 
 among its own flowers, with close green turf that 
 extended to the water's edge. It had been raining 
 the afternoon of their arrival, but when first the 
 lake came into view the sun was struggling with 
 clouds behind the surrounding tiers of hills, mak- 
 ing marvelous combinations of light and shade on
 
 62 
 
 foliage and water, while all the air was filled with 
 the scent of new-mown hay. 
 
 After supper they stood together on the wet vel- 
 vet of the turf where the lake lapped at their feet, 
 and watched the sun sink toward the mountains. 
 Eunice, her arm around her companion, uncon- 
 sciously hummed a little song. The girl smiled as 
 she listened. Her cousin had not been wont to 
 sing in Boston, although she had often talked of 
 her girlhood songs and the time when she and Ed- 
 wina's father had sung in the choir together ; but 
 many times on this trip her feelings had found 
 vent in soft musical ebullitions. 
 
 A pair of swans sailed toward them, with eager 
 eyes, and proud necks ready to unbend at the first 
 suggestion of bread. " Another time, you pretty 
 things," exclaimed Edwina, moved with gratitude 
 at the touch they gave to the living, changing pic- 
 ture she was watching. 
 
 " And to think," said Miss Pritchard with a 
 happy sigh, " that we can pronounce the name of 
 everything around here." 
 
 " Shame, cousin Eunice ! Are n't Bettws-y- 
 Coed and Tan-y-Bwllch worth any amount of 
 trouble ? " 
 
 " That was a cunning toy train we took over the 
 slate mountain to Tanny, was n't it ? " returned 
 Miss Pritchard reminiscently. " Look at that sky 
 now, Ned ! I should think Queen Victoria would 
 be the happiest woman in the world. Her whole 
 island seems to be a garden."
 
 WINDERMEBE 63 
 
 "Ladies ! " An apologetic voice made the couple 
 turn, and they saw, advancing gingerly on the 
 pebble walk, their hostess. She had short black 
 hair, dressed by running a wet comb through it 
 the wrong way. Her eyes were large and rolling, 
 and her lips down-drawn at the corners. A woolen 
 shawl was wrapped tightly about her. 
 
 " Oh, good evening, Miss Harney. Have you 
 come out to see this beautiful sunset ? I wondered 
 that we were the only ones." 
 
 " I beg your pardon, ladies, but sister says as 
 how perhaps you don't know that the evening hair 
 by the lake is un'olesome." 
 
 " Oh, this pure, sweet air, how can it be ? " 
 
 " Sister sayed you had n't any wraps on, so I 
 thought I 'd name it." 
 
 " Thank you, Miss Harney. We have n't seen 
 your sister yet, but I suppose you told her those 
 rooms will suit us very nicely." 
 
 " Yes, miss, thank you, miss. I 'm just going to 
 slop the rooms now and they'll be quite ready." 
 A delicate cough. " It is damp, miss, is n't it ? " 
 
 " She 's going to do what ? " asked Miss Pritch- 
 ard in a low tone as the shawled figure went back 
 toward the house. 
 
 " I don't know," laughed Edwina, equally low. 
 " I suppose she means to remove the evidence of 
 our having washed our hands, and fill the pitchers. 
 Will you think of those people we saw at supper 
 shutting themselves away from this unwholesome 
 air? Oh, the loveliness of this beautiful world, 
 and the ingratitude of folks!"
 
 64 MISS PEITCHAED'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 These two climbed into their high beds that even- 
 ing, blissful because for a century of nights peo- 
 ple had slept under the same old beams that 
 brought the ceiling so sociably near their recum- 
 bent heads. 
 
 "Not a bell last night," said Edwina trium- 
 phantly when she and Miss Pritchard were seated at 
 breakfast the next morning. The clash and clamor 
 at Chester had forcibly reminded them of Oxford. 
 
 " No," replied Eunice, " no bells, but swans. 
 Miss Harney," for the latter now entered with a 
 rack of cool toast, " do the swans chatter loudly 
 every morning so early quarter of five, I think 
 it was? " 
 
 " Quarter of quarter of " responded Miss 
 Harney, rolling her eyes in respectful confusion 
 " Oh, you mean quarter to five, miss. I I hasked 
 sister what was to do with the swans this very 
 morning, and sister sayed she thought the ladies 
 fed them a good bit and it made them come, d' you 
 see, miss ? " 
 
 " You hear, Edwina ? If you feed those swans, 
 be sure and go along the shore farther from the 
 house," said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 "Such a cackling, wasn't it?" put in Miss 
 Bellair, a white-haired woman who sat next Ed- 
 wina and spoke in the winning, confiding English 
 manner. " I think we must all be careful how we 
 encourage them ; but the boys chivy the poor birds 
 about a good bit, and it makes one feel like cod- 
 dling them, doesn't it?"
 
 W1NDEBMEEE 65 
 
 Miss Bellair's Scotch friend, Miss Erskine, an 
 elderly woman with short hair and skirts, specta- 
 cles and square shoes, completed the small com- 
 pany whom Miss Harney entertained so early in 
 the season. She was a kindly creature with a 
 rugged countenance which unconsciously lighted 
 when her small eyes rested on Edwina. She had 
 talked a good deal to the girl at supper the even- 
 ing before, with evident enjoyment of her youth 
 and fairness. 
 
 " I 'm sure, little one, you 've no Indian blood 
 in your veins," she remarked now, and continued, 
 unobservant of Eunice's stare of amazement, " we 
 do so often see dark Americans who show the In- 
 dian blood very plainly." 
 
 Edwina attempted to explain that her nation did 
 not intermarry with the Indians, and Miss Bellair 
 ejaculated : " Fancy ! " But it was evident that 
 Miss Erskine would not at once credit the state- 
 ment. 
 
 " You know the straight black hair and aquiline 
 nose are unmistakable," she returned. 
 
 " And have you none in your country ? " asked 
 Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Not of Indian descent." 
 
 " And we have n't either," returned Eunice. 
 
 " How good this oatmeal is," said Edwina has- 
 tily. 
 
 " Passable," admitted Miss Erskine, " but I like 
 my oatmeal full of knots, and I like salt to it al- 
 ways."
 
 66 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Really ? " ejaculated Miss Bellair. " Now, I 
 like mine so you can't see the seeds." 
 
 Miss Harney was lingering attentively behind 
 the several chairs. " Sister says," she put in, 
 " that it is 'ard to get one dish of hoatmeal to suit 
 hall tastes." 
 
 " So it is," replied Miss Erskine pacifically. 
 " Miss Harney, I 've an old gown that needs sort- 
 ing. Do you know of any one to sort a dress ? " 
 
 " I '11 hask sister. What is to do, Miss Er- 
 skine ? " 
 
 " Oh, a new braid and a general sorting 
 mending and that." 
 
 Miss Harney's hair and eyes were all uplifted 
 as she left the room repeating : " I '11 hask sister." 
 
 " Cousin Eunice and I must explore this dear 
 village to-day," said Edwina. " I want to buy 
 some candy, too. I have n't had any for weeks. 
 Can you tell me of a good candy store ? " 
 
 The two British ladies exchanged a look of 
 grave perplexity, then Miss Bellair repeated 
 gently: "Candy?" 
 
 " Yes, I 'in tired of plain chocolate. They seem 
 to offer it to you everywhere." 
 
 " Candy ? Oh ! " hopefully. " Do you mean 
 sweet-stuff?" 
 
 " Yes I suppose so." 
 
 " "We have," very politely, " we have a sweet we 
 call candy. It is very good for coughs ; but that, 
 of course, is a boiled sweet. I prefer fondant to 
 any of the boiled sweets, and I fancy that is what
 
 WINDERMEEE 67 
 
 you wish. Miss Erskine, do you remember that 
 shop just over the bridge ? " 
 
 " What like shop ? " 
 
 " Sweet-stuff ; where that man told us so 
 much " 
 
 " What like man was he ? " 
 
 Well he he 'd a squint. You '11 find it," 
 turning to Edwina, " a very good shop, I 'm sure. 
 I think 't will be fine after all, though 't was bitter 
 this morning. You keep right up this road and 
 cross the bridge, and then you '11 find all the 
 sweets a little girl should have." 
 
 Miss Pritchard smiled unconsciously as she saw 
 the approval in the British ladies' eyes as they 
 both gazed pleasantly at her child. " I wish they 
 each had an Edwina, poor things," she said to her- 
 self. 
 
 " Either those folks don't talk English, or I 
 don't," remarked Eunice later when she and Ed- 
 wina had started on their stroll. 
 
 " But don't you like to hear them ? " 
 
 " Ye-es, I don't object if they were n't so 
 stupid about the Indians." 
 
 " Oh, that rankles ? " laughed Edwina. 
 
 " And why do they dress like perfect frights ? " 
 
 " Because it is their nature to. But who cares 
 when they have such pretty manners and that 
 little deferential 'Isn't it?' 'Doesn't it?' 
 ' Was n't it ? ' at the end of every sentence. 
 Everything they say makes me more determined 
 never again to be aggressive."
 
 68 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 All travelers in the English lake country know 
 the heart-winning beauty of the places where Eu- 
 nice and Edwina spent happy hours with the books 
 they never read lying in their laps. Sometimes by 
 clear rivers flowing under the gray arches of an 
 old bridge, or tumbling in wild cascades down the 
 steeps of a hillside forest. Sometimes by mossy 
 rocks on the border of a streamlet where huge 
 trees shaded them, and they watched the delicate 
 water-birds at their graceful play. Each spot had 
 a unique fascination of its own. 
 
 They coached through all the surrounding coun- 
 try, bringing back every day their enthusiastic 
 reports to the sister boarders, to whom their re- 
 marks were an unfailing source of entertainment. 
 Miss Pritchard had come to feel at ease with her 
 novel companions, and though association brought 
 to each a greater complacence in her own manners 
 and customs, she and the British ladies had be- 
 come very friendly, and neither side realized the 
 secret sense of superiority enjoyed by the other. 
 
 Miss Bellair was stout and stayless, and wore 
 habitually a golden-brown worsted gown which was 
 shorter behind than in front. Its full sleeves were 
 box-pleated into its shapeless shoulders, and the 
 collar was pinned at the throat with a horseshoe 
 of large rhinestones. Across her ample breast a 
 heavy steel chain guarded the watch that hung in 
 a pocket at one side. Miss Erskine was not far 
 behind her in oddity of attire, and they both ad- 
 mired very generously the tailor-made garb of
 
 WINDERMERE 69 
 
 their American friends, without apparently con- 
 sidering for a moment any possible change in their 
 own methods. They were usually sitting on the 
 lawn under one of the semicircle of elm-trees when 
 the tourists returned from their expeditions, and 
 were ready and eager to hear an account of their 
 day. 
 
 Miss Erskine interrupted Edwina's talk one 
 afternoon with an apologetic laugh and a glance 
 at her friend. " You do use such strange expres- 
 sions," she said. " How funny to have a 4 lovely 
 time' at Ulls water ! " 
 
 " What other sort could you have ? " returned 
 Edwina from her low grassy seat. 
 
 "But, Miss Erskine," put in Miss Bellair, 
 " surely you remember the American lady who 
 was here every week's end with her husband last 
 summer. She was always having 'an elegant 
 time.' " 
 
 Edwina laughed with them, while Eunice lis- 
 tened doubtfully. " Well, we 've had a lovely 
 time, and an elegant time both," declared the 
 girl, " and on the boat at Ullswater there were so 
 many cunning English children." 
 
 Miss Bellair and Miss Erskine sobered. " Cun- 
 ning ? " repeated the latter. " What had the chil- 
 dren been doing ? " 
 
 " Why, nothing ; but they seem always pretty. 
 Perhaps it is the way they are dressed ; but I 
 think English children are the cunningest I ever 
 saw out of a picture."
 
 70 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " O-h ! I supposed, of course, you meant they 
 were crafty." 
 
 " Don't you call children cunning?" asked Eu- 
 nice, amazed. 
 
 " Not if they are n't, you know. Not if they 're 
 good little children." 
 
 " You don't say so ! " 
 
 " How do you get on without it ? " asked Ed- 
 wina, much entertained by this brush between Old 
 and New England. " See this tiny watch of 
 mine. I call it a cunning watch." 
 
 " Fancy ! " exclaimed Miss Bellair. " I would 
 say it 's a neat watch a pretty watch." 
 
 The girl shook her head. " It 's not the same. 
 I can't spare ' cunning.' Well, what have you 
 been doing to-day ? " 
 
 " I ? Oh, I 've bean a drive too. A neighbor 
 came to fetch Miss Erskine and me to the chari- 
 table society. They are making garments for the 
 poor for next winter." 
 
 Miss Erskine gave a sniff of disdain. " And 
 the Tammies ! Such awful-like Tammies they 
 were making : too small for a kitten's head ! And 
 one old woman wearying us with her talk." 
 
 "Ah," said Miss Bellair, " that would be Mrs. 
 Smith." 
 
 " Yes, and I 've heard her before. She 's a 
 thorn in my side, that old woman ; bound by the 
 traditions of the elders ! " 
 
 "Some of the ladies," explained Miss Bellair, 
 " were talking of the Pope allowing the priests in 
 South America to marry. Only fancy ! "
 
 WINDEEMEEE 71 
 
 " Why not ? " responded Miss Erskine, whose 
 combativeness seemed to have been roused by the 
 afternoon's meeting. " Did n't Peter, the head of 
 the church, have a wife's mother ? She was sick 
 of a fever, poor body. And did you see, Miss 
 Bellair, how Mrs. Price and her daughter were fair 
 ready to fight over the tea ? The old woman had 
 to wait for hers till she was pale with rage, and the 
 two glared at each other as they would like to 
 scratch each other's faces." 
 
 "Now, now, Miss Erskine," said Miss Bellair 
 soothingly, " never mind. I heard a good riddle 
 to-day. You can all be guessing: Why is the 
 Queen like Scotch weather ? " 
 
 Miss Erskine resumed the knitting she had 
 dropped. " Because," she hazarded, " because 
 she 's changeable ? " 
 
 " Ah, now," reproachfully, " you would n't say 
 that of our Queen ! " 
 
 " H'm," rejoined Miss Erskine cautiously. 
 " She 's a decent body." 
 
 " I suppose," said Edwina, " it 's something about 
 raining." 
 
 Miss Bellair directed an admiring look at the 
 sunny hair and clear eyes. " That 's very clever, 
 my dear. You 're very near it." 
 
 " But you '11 have to tell us, I 'm sure," said 
 Miss Pritchard. 
 
 Miss Bellair gave a pleased little nod. " Well, 
 then, it 's because she keeps on reigning and reign- 
 ing and reigning, and never gives the son a chance."
 
 72 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 The Americans applauded, and Miss Bellair's 
 pleased expression changed to one of pain as she 
 clapped her hand to her cheek. " Such twinges 
 as me tooth gives me to-day ! " 
 
 Miss Pritchard exclaimed sympathetically. She 
 and Edwina had marveled many a time at the 
 frail, dark, or false teeth in the average English 
 mouth ; and Eunice's involuntary thought was : 
 " I 'm glad she has one of her own left to ache, 
 poor thing ! " 
 
 " It 's a tooth I had scraped and stuffed last 
 winter," explained Miss Bellair, " and now some- 
 thing ails it. It 's very tiresome." 
 
 " They 're always tiresome teeth," remarked 
 Miss Erskine. " I had a frightful toothache once, 
 and I stopped it myself. It was very wrong of me, 
 was n't it ? " 
 
 She fixed Eunice with her gaze, and Miss 
 Pritchard did n't know what to reply, stopping 
 the toothache seeming rather laudable to her. 
 
 " I stopped it with gutta percha ; but it hurt me 
 worse than ever ; so I took the stuff out with a hat- 
 pin and put in wadding. I 'm very unlucky with 
 my teeth," she went on, knitting busily. " Stumps 
 are of some use, but I can't even have stumps, as 
 so many people can. They always decay." 
 
 Meanwhile Miss Bellair had been looking into 
 space and poking with her finger around her of- 
 fending molar. At last she brought to view a 
 small black lump. 
 
 " There 's the stuffing from me tooth ! " she 
 announced.
 
 WINDEEMEBE 73 
 
 " How teasing ! " commented her friend. 
 
 Edwina, feeling a shade hysterical, hastened to 
 speak. " It is such an awful way to spend money 
 on dentists and doctors," she remarked. 
 
 " Doctors ! " exclaimed Miss Erskine. " I 'm 
 never without one for my neuralgia, nor have been 
 this twenty years." 
 
 " Does n't it vex you to spend so much money 
 that way ? " 
 
 " Not a cent, my dear, does it cost me. My 
 father was a physician, and they charge me no- 
 thing. If they did, I should have spent all my 
 substance, like the woman in the Bible poor de- 
 cent body ! " 
 
 There was an old piano in the farmhouse, and 
 upon Miss Harney's hasking Sister, it was discov- 
 ered that Sister sayed she would be pleased to have 
 it used ; and Edwina found a delighted audience, 
 uncritical of the piano's failings as well as her own. 
 
 " Chopin is all very well," said Miss Erskine 
 after Edwina had played one of the Nocturnes, 
 "but do play something vulgar. I like vulgar 
 music best." 
 
 Upon which the girl began with gusto playing 
 American coon songs, which called forth rapturous 
 approval, Miss Erskine protesting at each new air 
 that she remembered it well, it being a reel which 
 her mother had played when she was a child. 
 
 " Why, no ! " said Miss Pritchard, thinking to 
 explain ; but Edwina shook her head, and so Miss 
 Erskine knitted on and tapped her foot to the
 
 74 MISS PEITCHARWS WEDDING TEIP 
 
 marked rhythm and continued to recognize and be 
 happy in reels of her childhood, dating from the 
 " Golden Slippers " down to the latest favorite of 
 the American street. 
 
 " Does your tooth feel better, Miss Bellair ? ' 
 asked Eunice that evening as they were parting. 
 
 "Oh, yes, thanks. The back has broken off, 
 and it will be quite right now," was the cheerful 
 response. 
 
 " Here comes Miss Harney," said Edwina, as 
 she and Miss Pritchard sat under an elm-tree darn- 
 ing stockings the next morning. " What do you 
 suppose Sister has sayed now : that there 's dew 
 on the grass, and that it 's very un'olesome to be 
 sitting in it ? " 
 
 Sister still remained, after the passage of a fort- 
 night, an invisible oracle, and Edwina's curiosity 
 concerning her could scarcely be restrained. 
 
 " Good-morning, Miss Harney. We were just 
 saying what a fortunate woman you are to have 
 this dear old homestead. I don't know how we 
 are ever going to get strength enough of mind to 
 leave it." 
 
 Miss Harney looked pleased. The lugubrious 
 corners of her mouth often in these days presented 
 less contrast to her uplifted hair and eyes. She 
 liked her foreign boarders. " Well, miss, I sayed 
 to sister we never 'ad ladies that gave less 
 trouble." 
 
 " Oh, thank you, Miss Harney. I never tire of 
 looking at the low roof, how it cuddles under the
 
 WINDERMERE 75 
 
 very lowest branches of these towering elms," said 
 Edwina. 
 
 " Yes. Sister says our helm-trees are as fine as 
 any on the lake ; but she likes hash-trees better 
 'erself. Sister sayed only this morning there was 
 nothing like a havenue of hash-trees for making a 
 'andsome harch." 
 
 "'M. Indeed?" 
 
 " Yes, ladies. I came to speak about dinner. 
 I hasked sister if she thought you might like it if 
 we 'd a different sort of bread. There 's so much 
 crust and so little crumb to that we 'ave." 
 
 Edwina, seeing her cousin incapable of reply, 
 spoke : " Do whatever you like about the white 
 bread, so long as you keep on with the Hovis." 
 
 " Thank you, miss ; and about dessert, miss. 
 Sister sayed you might like a shape for a change. 
 We 'd a good many tarts lately." 
 
 " A I " hesitated Edwina. 
 
 " I hasked sister," Miss Harney's lips drooped 
 and her eyes sought the treetops, " 'ow the cake 
 came to be sad last night ; and sister sayed that 
 haccidents will 'appen, and they will, won't they, 
 miss ? " 
 
 " Don't distress yourself about us," said Edwina, 
 smiling. 
 
 " Sister says," fervently, " it 's 'er haim to 
 please. It 's both our haims, miss." 
 
 " I 'm sure it is, and everything is very nice ; 
 but you were speaking of tarts, Miss Harney. I 
 do think there 's too much of one thing in England, 
 and that is gooseberries."
 
 76 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Really, miss ? Thank you for naming it. 
 Then I '11 hask sister to 'ave a shape to-day." 
 
 The two tourists exchanged glances when Miss 
 Harney, her mind lightened of its load of the 
 heavy cake, had gone back to the house. 
 
 "Isn't it all fun?" exclaimed Edwina softly. 
 " I suppose a shape must be blanc-mange or some- 
 thing in a mould. Hurry up with that last stock- 
 ing, Eunice, my love. We have a lot of business 
 before us to-day." Edwina drove her own needle 
 rapidly. " The steamer around the lake, a canoe 
 for me to explore in, if you '11 promise not to 
 worry." 
 
 " Ned, don't ! Please don't, dear, all alone ! " 
 Eunice dropped her stocking. 
 
 Edwina shrugged her shoulders mutinously. 
 
 Miss Pritchard made a remarkable concession. 
 " On your wedding trip you can go canoeing. 
 He '11 be there to take care of you. This," 
 Eunice laughed, " remember, this is mine." 
 
 Edwina looked at her cousin's face, rosy, and 
 younger, it seemed to her, than when she had first 
 seen it more than a decade ago ; and the intense 
 tenderness she often felt for her mysterious loss 
 and suffering came over the girl. 
 
 " Well, I suppose I must submit ; but to which 
 particular incarnation of all selfishness are you 
 going to give me ? " 
 
 " To nobody we 've seen yet," returned Miss 
 Pritchard promptly. " Let 's not think of him," 
 and she began to sing :
 
 WINDERMERE 77 
 
 " ' Let 's be happy while we may: 
 
 Banish gloom and sadness. 
 Grief may come another day; 
 Now we welcome gladness.' " 
 
 " I declare," laughed Edwina, " of late you have 
 a song for every occasion." 
 
 " Do you remember your father's singing, Ned?" 
 
 " No, I 'm afraid I don't." 
 
 " He had the best voice in our town," remarked 
 Eunice simply ; and Edwina, though she did n't in 
 the least believe it, loved her so much that she 
 took the stocking from her hand and finished it for 
 her, great proof of affection on Miss Wilder's 
 part. 
 
 " Come, little one, have your fortune told," said 
 Miss Erskine after supper that evening. She was 
 shuffling the cards at a small table, while Miss 
 Bellair sat near. 
 
 " She 's just wonderful," said the latter. " She 's 
 the Scotch second sight, I do believe. She 's just 
 promised me a splendid present of a gold watch- 
 chain." 
 
 " What a mercy that would be ! " thought 
 Edwina. 
 
 " Tell cousin Eunice's first, won't you? " 
 
 " Certainly, we will tell them all," said Miss Er- 
 skine ; and she dealt the cards in little groups, face 
 up, and proceeded with the usual hints of the past 
 and promises for the future. 
 
 Eunice bore with equanimity being told that she 
 had experienced a love affair from which she had
 
 78 MISS PEITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 had a fortunate escape ; but when it came to hear- 
 ing that Edwina was soon to have a letter from a 
 dark man who was very sad on account of her ab- 
 sence, she writhed in her chair. Ralph Glenn was 
 dark. 
 
 " I don't like fortune-telling ! " she remarked 
 curtly. 
 
 Miss Erskine laughed good-naturedly. "You 
 think 't is all havers ; but wait till the little one 
 gets that present ye see there. It would be a 
 grand gown, perhaps, or a jewel." 
 
 " Cousin Eunice knows she would have to be 
 the one to give it to me ; that does n't comfort 
 her any. No, we can't have an" gowns and jewels. 
 The customs are such a bother." 
 
 " But you '11 have no trouble going to France, 
 and you don't carry too much tea over nor bring 
 too much tobacco back." 
 
 " I like one just about as well as the other," re- 
 marked the girl. 
 
 " There 's a deal of clever smuggling, though," 
 said Miss Erskine. " I knew of a woman who 'd 
 an imitation dog that she filled with things and 
 carried a long time before she was found out." 
 
 Edwina nodded. " I heard of a woman who 
 carried a baby through in the same way." 
 
 Miss Bellair dropped her knitting. " Fancy ! " 
 she ejaculated, gazing at the speaker. " I never 
 knew there was a duty on babies ! " 
 
 Miss Erskine explained, and Edwina, ashamed 
 of her own sudden laughter, changed the subject.
 
 WINDERMERE 79 
 
 " There are four of us," she said. " Let 's play 
 whist." 
 
 " I can't abide whist," declared Miss Erskine, 
 absently shuffling her cards. 
 
 " Do you know the game ? " 
 
 " Ah," leniently. " I 've a dim twinkle of it. 
 It 's just capers." 
 
 " Then let us all go out and see the moon rise." 
 
 " 'T will be damp now," objected Miss Bellair. 
 
 " Why, the sun has scarcely set. See, it is still 
 quite light. Cousin Eunice and I are going. 
 You 'd better come." 
 
 The two British ladies looked doubtfully wist- 
 ful ; the girl's elastic youth and vivacious, pretty 
 face fascinated them. Why was not Miss Pritch- 
 ard properly in awe of evening damp ? The latter 
 looked kindly upon them. Their open admiration 
 of her child warmed her heart, and though she 
 would have much preferred to ramble alone with 
 Edwina, she added her persuasion, and the conse- 
 quence was that, much shawled as to shoulders 
 and wrapped as to head, they dared the twilight 
 beauty of the lake shore, where the orange light 
 still glimmered behind the hills. 
 
 " Would n't it be fun if we could meet Sister? " 
 said Edwina as she moved on beside Miss Erskine. 
 " Don't you suppose at this hour she might inspect 
 her estate? " 
 
 " Oh, do you mean the elder Miss Harney ? 
 Have you not seen her yet ? " 
 
 " Never. Why, have you ? " eagerly.
 
 80 MISS PRITCIIARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Ah, once, over the fence." 
 
 " Then there is such a person. I began to think 
 England might be full of Mrs. Harrises." 
 
 "Eh? No, she 's Mrs. Nobody just plain 
 Miss Harney. She 's a decent body. They 've 
 their own pride, you see. She cooks and works 
 hard, and just slips on a good frock to run out 
 maybe to prayer-meeting or the like ; so her sister 
 meets the boarders and waits on them. 'T is their 
 division of labor." 
 
 " You think we 're all so disagreeable, it 's a 
 fair one ? " laughed the girl. " Oh, dear, lovely 
 Windermere," she exclaimed, gazing over the lake. 
 " Why do we have to go away ! " 
 
 " Me dear," solemnly, " Miss Pritchard should 
 forbid your coming out in that blouse and no- 
 thing on your head." 
 
 " My wig is thick, you see." 
 
 Miss Erskine gazed, narrowing her eyes, at the 
 fair thick waves of hair framing the expressive 
 face. " Ye never mean ye 're chaffing ! " 
 
 " Yes, I 'm chaffing, and I 'm warm. Let us all 
 go around to that clump of trees." 
 
 The Lady Moon lifted her pale, fair face into 
 view above the hollow of a hill, and all the lake 
 trembled and sparkled in gladness. Miss Erskine 
 and Miss Bellair forgot hygiene for the moment, 
 and in the shelter of the foliage gazed with plea- 
 sure at their surroundings. Edwina skipped lightly 
 upon a rock round which the ripples broke, and from 
 which she could see her cousin wander alone along
 
 WINDERMERE 81 
 
 the shore and pause, her face toward the peaceful 
 loveliness of sky, hills, and water. The girl could 
 hear the murmur of song that came unconsciously 
 from her lips, and note the pensive sweetness of 
 her smile as she stood long, looking, thinking, 
 singing, forgetful of her companions. That picture 
 of cousin Eunice remained in the girl's heart for 
 many a year. 
 
 Days afterward Miss Pritchard found folded 
 between the leaves of her diary these verses : 
 
 BY WINDERMERE 
 
 Aloof she stood among the trees 
 Like one who some sweet vision sees; 
 The sunset's glow still shimmered clear, 
 The moon had ris'n on Windermere. 
 
 She faced the wooded mountains steep 
 Where watch about the lake they keep, 
 Then soft tones fell upon the ear, 
 And Eunice sang by Windermere. 
 
 She sang of waves and whitening sails, 
 Of trusting love that never fails; 
 Of Nature's beauty, all the while 
 Upon her lips a pensive smile. 
 
 The moonlight touched her silvered hair; 
 Her thoughts had fled we knew not where, 
 As soft she sang by Windermere 
 The songs of many a vanished year. 
 
 In days to come, at sunset's glow 
 Again will sound that singing low,
 
 82 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 And I shall see those blessed eyes 
 
 Look far beyond the evening skies. 
 
 Ah ! then may Heaven's own peace draw near, 
 
 As on that night by Windermere.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 SCOTLAND 
 
 NATURE makes a crescendo of beauty from 
 Windermere to Derwent Water, and thence in- 
 creases through the Scotch lakes until at Loch 
 Katrine the climax is reached. This trip was all 
 enjoyed by our travelers under the best circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Miss Harney bade them farewell with almost 
 tearful unction, and Miss Pritchard remarked that 
 she should be glad to say good-by to her sister. 
 At this Miss Harney's eyes sought the clouds. 
 " I hasked sister if she would n't just step here ; 
 but she sayed to give you her respects, as she was 
 busy just this minute with her shape. I sayed to 
 sister this morning early when it was foggy that 
 the very hatmosphere was weeping because you 
 were going, and sister sayed quite so, but it would 
 burn hoff, which it will, and good-by, ladies." 
 
 The travelers responded to the waved salutations 
 of their fellow-boarders, each framed by a protect- 
 ing window above stairs, for there were still 
 traces of mist in the air ; then the coach with its 
 four horses and scarlet-coated driver came dashing 
 along under the trees. The luggage was put
 
 84 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 aboard, they climbed up the ladder, and off and 
 away they went from lovely Windermere, while the 
 mist-veil lifted fast. 
 
 The driver's round, red, jolly face was often 
 turned to them as the only Americans who hap- 
 pened to be on the well-filled coach. He enter- 
 tained all his party with the ease of a raconteur of 
 seventeen years' experience. 
 
 Past Rydal Water and Thirlmere and Grasmere, 
 with all their wealth of poetical association, they 
 drove ; then up, up to the tiny Wytheburn church 
 at the summit of Dunmail Raise, where every one 
 dismounted to read on its walls what the great 
 poets have written in praise of the miniature house 
 of God. Near this spot was a large pile of rocks. 
 When the coach had started again, the driver indi- 
 cated this strange monument with his thumb. 
 
 " Ye see the cairn yonder. Some say King 
 Dunmail lies buried there ; but some others that 
 the Devil himself was speeding across with a large 
 sack of stones one time, and it broke right there. 
 The last time 'e was ever in the Lake Country," 
 added the driver pensively ; then he turned, and 
 his twinkling eyes rested on Eunice and Edwina. 
 " They do say 'e 's gone to America." 
 
 It was a wild country of solitary loveliness 
 through which the coach now wound its way. A 
 weather-beaten little house above on a hilltop was 
 pointed out by the driver as his seat of learning. 
 " Ye can see it 's a 'igh school," he remarked. " I 
 was born on a farm 'ereabouts, and that yonder,"
 
 SCOTLAND 85 
 
 pointing to a small lonely building on a far hill, 
 " was the church that was attended by all the folk 
 for five mile far and near. But it was 'ard to get 
 a congregation ! " He shook his jolly head. " I 
 always went, of course, but the clergyman refused 
 to preach to less than three ; beside 'e knew I was 
 such a good boy, 'e used to send me 'ome. But 
 one Sunday morning I remember well the minister 
 came to the tavern and said 'e must 'ave a congre- 
 gation, for 'e 'ad to publish banns. The 'ole crowd 
 wanted to know whose banns ; but the clergyman 
 would n't tell them, so they up and followed 'im to 
 church to find out who was going to be married ! " 
 
 Arrived in Keswick, Eunice and Edwina after 
 dinner drove to the disappointing Falls of Lodore, 
 and then around the most beautiful of all the Eng- 
 lish lakes. The charms of Derwent Water were 
 still vividly with them when days later they stepped 
 upon the boat at Balloch Pier on Loch Lomond. 
 
 The day was cloudless ; the heather beginning 
 to bloom on the mountain sides ; the free, inspiring 
 air was intoxicating. " It 's different, different," 
 said Edwina, delightedly gazing at the changing 
 views of the grand mountain steeps. " It is n't 
 cosy any more, like England." 
 
 " What 's that noise ? " exclaimed Eunice. 
 
 " Bagpipes. Come." Edwina sprang up and 
 led her cousin to where they could see the players, 
 a man and girl in Scottish dress. Their costumes 
 were handsome, and they wore many medals. The 
 girl was bewitching. Her plaid blew in the breeze.
 
 86 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Her hair waved under the jaunty Tarn as her rose- 
 bud mouth closed on the pipe, and her easy, grace- 
 ful air as she tapped her buckled shoe in time with 
 the rhythm of the familiar air charmed the be- 
 holders. 
 
 " She 's a picture if she 'd only stop that squeal- 
 ing," commented Miss Pritchard. " I 'd give them 
 a shilling gladly if they 'd keep still and let me 
 look at them." 
 
 " I wonder if they will take money," said 
 Edwina. 
 
 " You do ! " ejaculated her cousin scornfully. 
 She was still smarting from the demand of extra 
 sixpences by youths whom she had feed that morn- 
 ing according to Baedeker. 
 
 However, Edwina watched when the tune was 
 done, and saw that not only did the couple not ask 
 for money, but when a shilling was offered the man 
 by one of the passengers, he courteously declined. 
 Then Edwina approached the girl, who with modest 
 pride answered her questions, showed her hand- 
 some bagpipes, and explained the different medals 
 with which her velvet bodice was hung. One of 
 these, she said naively, meant the best player in 
 Scotland. Another she had won at Partick in a 
 competition with twenty-five pipers. 
 
 At the next stop the pipers left the boat, and 
 though Edwina dilated on their skill and impor- 
 tance, Eunice declared her joy at their departure, 
 for they had been complaisant as to playing up to 
 the end.
 
 SCOTLAND 87 
 
 " But think of the local color, and how charac- 
 teristic it was," said Edwina, clasping the Scotch 
 plaid miniature copy of " The Lady of the Lake " 
 she had secured at Glasgow. 
 
 " So is Ben Lomond/' returned Eunice dreamily, 
 " and so are the gulls and the rocks and the waves. 
 How lovely to lean back and watch them quietly ! " 
 
 As they sat in silence but for the swish of waves 
 and breeze, a party of men and women at the end 
 of the boat began softly to sing " Loch Lomond." 
 Eunice and Edwina exchanged a look of pleasure. 
 
 '" Oh, ye '11 tak' the high road, 
 And I '11 tak' the low road, 
 And I '11 be in Scotland afore ye. 
 But me and my true love, 
 We '11 never meet again 
 On the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond." 
 
 It was at Inversnaid that they left the boat and 
 went up to the hotel nestling in the wooded hill- 
 side beside a steep, musical waterfall. In the late 
 afternoon they threaded their way among the fern- 
 beset forest paths along the shore, with ever wilder 
 and lovelier views of lake and jutting crag break- 
 ing upon their delighted vision. 
 
 The song had been floating through Eunice's 
 head all the afternoon, and as she stood now on a 
 point of rock, her arm slipped through Edwina' s, 
 and her child's hand in hers, the scene brought it 
 to her afresh. 
 
 " The wee birdie sings and the wild flowers spring, 
 And in sunshine the waters are sleeping ;
 
 88 MISS PKITCHAKVS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 But the broken heart it kens nae second spring again, 
 Though the waefu' may cease frae their greeting." 
 
 She smoothed her child's hand silently as the song 
 sung itself. Long, long years since, she had ceased 
 greeting. One broken heart had known a second 
 spring, and felt nothing but tenderness, nothing 
 but thankfulness. 
 
 The next morning the travelers mounted the 
 coach, finding places near the driver, whose Scotch 
 reserve melted when Edwina, soon after the start, 
 made a lucky reference to the pipers on yesterday's 
 boat. His pleasant weather-beaten face lighted 
 with enthusiasm as he regarded her. He knew of 
 "that lady," and was eager to hear her. He 
 smiled when Edwina mentioned her doubt as to 
 offering the players money, and explained that 
 when pipers accept money on the street or in such 
 situations as yesterday's, they are no longer eligible 
 to take part in competitions. This couple had 
 been on their way to some competition, and it was 
 evident that the driver considered that these 
 Americans had been blessed beyond their deserts, 
 inasmuch as the pipers had happened upon their 
 boat. Eunice recalled the blaring monotony of 
 the man's accompaniment and the persistent shrill- 
 ing of the girl's melodies, but wisely held her 
 peace. 
 
 The coach mounted higher and higher, and the 
 ladies nestled in their golf capes while admiring 
 what the driver called the " pretty scennery." 
 
 " This cold air is good for the horses," said
 
 SCOTLAND 89 
 
 Edwina, who always had an eye to the laborious 
 pulls uphill, of which there were many on this 
 steep drive. 
 
 " Yes, the heat is varra kullin' on them, varra 
 kullin'," was the response. 
 
 High above the hilltops ran the telegraph wires, 
 hung at frequent intervals with little squares of 
 wood that the grouse might see, and be spared 
 from killing themselves as they flew over. 
 
 At last Stronachlachar was reached, and on the 
 shores of Loch Katrine Eunice and Edwina sat 
 down to wait for the boat, and read on in " The 
 Lady of the Lake." Every captain and coach 
 driver in that region knows the poem from cover to 
 cover. It is the best of guide-books to the beauties 
 of the Trossachs. The captain of their boat to-day 
 was a didactic and deliberate Scotchman who had 
 grown old in the service of enlightening tourists, 
 and whose oracular speech seemed in contrast to 
 the unfettered, lavish beauty of the wild shores he 
 apostrophized. By the time Ellen's Isle was reached 
 he was surrounded by a respectful audience. 
 
 " 'T is Ellen's Isle yonder, and in the small 
 space ye '11 find'for'rty varieties of trees, the seeds 
 having been transpor'rted there be the bir'rds. 
 Across," pointing, " ye '11 see the silver str'rand 
 where Fitz-James fir'rst saw Ellen Douglas. 
 Walter Scott tells it pr'retty well, pr'retty well, 
 though poets do polish up a bit." 
 
 Some one expressed a fear that the thinly over- 
 spread sky threatened rain. The captain stared 
 straight before him.
 
 90 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Yesterday 't was war'rm. Folks were groom- 
 blin' at the sun. To-day 't is the clouds. Mor'rtals 
 is ill to satisfy." 
 
 Eunice and Edwina smiled at each other. On 
 Loch Katrine, where Nature strikes her loftiest 
 note, and Beauty rests unapproached on mountain, 
 vale, and wave, if mortal man for a moment for- 
 gets to worship, he is indeed ill to satisfy. 
 
 A few days later the travelers found themselves 
 again under sunlit skies, steaming up the Clyde 
 between curving shore lines, on their way to Oban. 
 Crowds of sea-gulls were their companions in the 
 broad river-spaces, the soft, white fluttering of 
 myriad wings floating like restless, changing cloud- 
 lets above their heads. At Ardrishaig they had to 
 leave the breezy big boat for the small craft on the 
 Crinan canal. 
 
 " Ah ! " sighed Edwina as the crowd of travel- 
 ing humanity began to bump elbows, " if only all 
 Britain were not going to Oban to-day ! " 
 
 " Now this is as cosy as England," remarked 
 Eunice, smiling, as the boat moved on toward the 
 first lock, which, when they reached it, proved that 
 Scotland could be hot. 
 
 There were twelve of these locks, in each of 
 which they gasped with the heat, uncheered by the 
 Highlanders in kilts, and Irishmen with green coats 
 and shillelahs, who gave characteristic songs and 
 dances on the shore and were rewarded by coppers 
 tossed from the boat. But in the cooler spaces of 
 the canal the fine old trees and pretty shores gave
 
 SCOTLAND 91 
 
 the effect of a romantic river, and seemed like a 
 return to English scenes. 
 
 Miss Pritchard was greatly interested in the 
 working of the locks, and hung over the boat side 
 at- every stop to observe the ingenious machinery. 
 Edwina busied herself in studying her books and 
 wrestling with the intricacies of Butes and Firths 
 and Forths, and felt tired as well as hot by the 
 time Crinan was reached. The tourists poured off 
 the little Linnet and boarded the large boat that 
 awaited them on the salt waves beyond. 
 
 "What water is this?" asked Eunice eagerly 
 as they emerged on the spacious deck and looked 
 about. 
 
 " Oh, the Forth of something," returned Edwina 
 curtly, " July, I guess by the feeling." 
 
 " You need your lunch," laughed Miss Pritch- 
 ard. 
 
 They ate this meal with a crowd of other fam- 
 ished ones, and, comforted within and decidedly 
 cool without, wrapped themselves well to sit on 
 deck and view the winding into the bay of Oban. 
 No longer the verdant foliage of wide-spreading 
 trees attracted the eye. This bleak, bright, wind- 
 swept coast was gray with rock and singularly 
 vivid in the green of its bare hills. Irregular, 
 steep islands marked the boat's course until Oban, 
 built against its hillside, came into view. 
 
 " Somehow," said Edwina, " I never felt so far 
 from home in my life." 
 
 "Somehow," returned Miss Pritchard, "neither
 
 92 MISS PRITCHARD' S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 did I ; but neither did I ever taste such exhilarat- 
 ing air." 
 
 " I feel that, too ; and I need the courage, for I 
 haven't an address in this town, and you 're tired, 
 little Eunice, you need n't deny it." 
 
 " It does seem queer," mused Miss Pritchard 
 aloud, " to look at a town like that, and to know 
 that not a soul in it is glad we 're coming, nor 
 would care if we slipped off the boat." 
 
 "Oh yes, there is somebody who is glad," re- 
 turned Edwina, " only the creature is not aware of 
 it yet. It 's the woman who is going to make six- 
 teen shillings per out of us." 
 
 " Then there are our letters," added Eunice 
 more cheerfully. Not that she cared especially for 
 letters. She had her world with her ; but Mi- 
 randa's occasional assurance that the apartment 
 was intact was always welcome. 
 
 Their first move on landing was to drive to the 
 post-office, and, as usual, there were a few letters 
 for Miss Pritchard and a handful for Edwina. 
 At this office, also, they procured some suggestions 
 as to an abiding-place, and without stopping to 
 open their mail they set forth at once. Miss 
 Pritchard was opposed to hotels as being noisy ; 
 so, after several disappointments, their driver 
 stopped before a house so high above the bay that 
 the view of every island and shore line was unob- 
 structed. An interview with Miss McDonald, the 
 hostess, being satisfactory, the travelers were soon 
 installed.
 
 SCOTLAND 93 
 
 " Here, you see, is the woman who is glad we 
 came to Oban," said Edvvina, as in their wrappers 
 the two sat that evening overlooking the beauteous 
 bay from a window which had the dominating 
 effect of a balloon. " Are your letters interest- 
 ing?" 
 
 " Miranda and the lawyer," returned Miss 
 Pritchard. " Everything is all right. What are 
 yours ? " 
 
 Edwina had her letters in her lap. She tossed 
 to her cousin one she had just opened. " Perhaps 
 this is the one Miss Erskine foretold," she said, 
 laughing and coloring a little. 
 
 Miss Pritchard read Ralph Glenn's bright sen- 
 tences with a solemn countenance. " If he had 
 good sense," she said when she had finished, " he 
 would know that an extra correspondent is no- 
 thing but a nuisance when one is traveling. I 
 hope you '11 tell him you have no time to write." 
 
 " Why, this is from Mr. Champion ! " said Ed- 
 wina, surprised, as she glanced over a sheet she had 
 just opened. It was her turn to look grave, and 
 Eunice noticed apprehensively how her color deep- 
 ened with annoyance. 
 
 " What 's he writing for ? " she asked. Cham- 
 pion had never been mentioned between them since 
 that unlucky episode at Ascot. 
 
 " There it is." Edwina handed her the letter 
 and proceeded to open the next one. 
 
 Miss Pritchard felt uncomfortable as she read 
 the young man's expressed hope that they had
 
 94 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 reached London safely on the evening of the races. 
 He wrote that he had called the following- day at 
 their hotel, regretted not finding them, and that 
 on his return to London from one of his cathedral 
 trips he had managed to discover their address, 
 and now hoped that he might receive a word of 
 assurance that their travels were proving satisfac- 
 tory. 
 
 She looked up and met her child's eyes half- 
 apologetically. " I 'm sure he 's very polite, 
 Ned ? " she suggested. 
 
 Edwina's mental picture was still vivid : the 
 shining drag and its glistening horses contrasting 
 with the ramshackle little wagon in which with 
 their cockney companions they had jolted over the 
 dusty road to Windsor. She knew she ought by 
 this time to see the incident in a humorous light, 
 and disliked herself because she could n't. She 
 nodded. " Quite unnecessarily polite," she replied. 
 
 " What a trouble he must have had to find our 
 address," said Eunice reproachfully. 
 
 " There were a number of more sensible things 
 he might have been doing." 
 
 " But you can't leave a note like that unan- 
 swered," ejaculated Miss Pritchard with feeling. 
 
 " You may write him," said Edwina, smiling. 
 " Tell him I 've sprained my wrist." 
 
 "Ned Wilder!" 
 
 " Oh, we '11 attend to him sometime." The girl 
 laughed at her cousin's expression. " Meanwhile, 
 where 's that little song of yours :
 
 SCOTLAND 95 
 
 " ' Let 'a be happy while we may.' 
 
 Don't you want to read these letters from the 
 girls? Who do you think is engaged? Fanny 
 Ardmore. She has written me all about him. 
 He 's musical you know she is and no taller 
 than she is that 's rather too bad. Then she 
 says he is jolly and gay, but not sporty, and he 
 is n't afraid of mice " 
 
 " Is n't " Eunice laughed. 
 
 " Oh, well, she is, awfully," said Edwina seri- 
 ously. " She is so happy, you must read the letter. 
 You see," added the girl mischievously, " Fanny 
 has never been instructed that men are monsters 
 with a large M. She does n't know enough to 
 shudder at her fate and realize that she ought to 
 be more afraid of men than of mice." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's smile flickered out, and she 
 pressed one little hand over the ring she wore. 
 The girl regretted her jest. 
 
 " Ah, cousin Eunice, we ought not to be keep- 
 ing our eyes indoors. The sun is going down." 
 All the water of the bay was pink, and the Islands 
 of Mull and the Shepherd's Hat lay black upon it. 
 They watched the colors change and fade, and in 
 the long late twilight the lights twinkle out on the 
 shipping, far below their eyrie. 
 
 " Another place to want to spend our lives in," 
 said Edwina at last, sleepily. " Dear me ! what a 
 number of incarnations it would take to do justice 
 to all these beauties ! " 
 
 Miss McDonald's menage proved a very attrac-
 
 96 
 
 tive one. She had less difficulty than her maid in 
 adjusting herself to the peculiarities of these odd 
 Americans ; but Edwina expected yet to see plea- 
 sant Scotch Annie rambling on the hilltops and 
 wringing her hands in the endeavor to grasp the 
 unnatural fact that her new ladies did not want 
 tea at breakfast, did want it at lunch, and did not 
 want it at four o'clock. One phenomenon she 
 grappled with and grasped : namely, that they 
 liked cold water to drink I This unique desire 
 having threatened with nervous prostration each 
 British household they had entered, Eunice and 
 Edwina were the more touched with Annie's zeal 
 to please them, a zeal which she evidenced by 
 bringing a pitcher of water and glasses to their 
 rooms immediately after breakfast and repeating 
 the process at short intervals all day. She evi- 
 dently concluded that they were afflicted with some 
 mysterious inward fever which required frequent 
 assuaging. 
 
 The morning after their arrival Miss McDonald 
 came to the drawing-room to consult with them on 
 the subject of meals. She was a small dark woman 
 with the brightest of eyes and the most deliberate 
 and reposeful manner of speech. In contrast to 
 the ingratiating little " Is n't it ? " " Was n't it ? " 
 " Doesn't it?" which modifies each declaration of 
 an Englishwoman, Miss McDonald's remarks, like 
 those of her compatriot captain on Loch Katrine, 
 were all statements. 
 
 " I thought I heard the note of a bullfinch down-
 
 SCOTLAND 97 
 
 stairs this morning, Miss McDonald," said Ed- 
 wina. 
 
 " Ah, you heard Bully." 
 
 " And I was glad to. I had a bullfinch once. 
 What sweet pets they are ! " 
 
 " Mine came to me. I never knew how. I 
 came up the steps into my vestibule one day, and 
 there lay what looked to be a bit of pink cotton. 
 I stooped. It was an unfledged bird which had 
 not yet its eyes open. It could not have climbed 
 in there alone. I have a theory at which my 
 brother laughs. I 've always believed that Robin 
 helped him in." 
 
 " Who is Robin ? " asked Edwina, while Eunice 
 asked Miss McDonald to sit down. She declined 
 with gentle decision, and never during the many 
 long talks the three had together did the Scotch 
 lady descend to a chair. She reminded Edwina 
 of certain dolls of her childhood whose physical 
 limitations made such indulgence impossible. 
 
 " Robin is a bird who has nested near my house 
 for seventeen years. Not this house always. I 
 moved five years ago, and for many days I missed 
 the little fellow. At last I met him on the street. 
 ' Why, Robin ! ' said I, ' don't you know where I 
 am ? ' I suppose he followed me home ; for next 
 day he was eating on the new window-sill as famil- 
 iarly as he had on the old one." 
 
 " For seventeen years ! " repeated Miss Pritch- 
 ard. 
 
 " Yes. He still comes. You can see him any
 
 98 MISS PIIITCIIAIWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 day. At the coldest periods in winter he stays in 
 the house. At meal-time he perches on the chan- 
 delier and watches us lay the table. If we put 
 down spoons, he knows there is going to be rice 
 or something that he likes, and he stays ; but if he 
 sees only forks he flies out." 
 
 Edwina's mental attitude would have found nat- 
 ural vent in a low whistle ; but Miss McDonald's 
 manner-of-fact manner seemed to refute the sus- 
 picion of exaggeration. 
 
 " But in pleasant weather Robin comes no fur- 
 ther than the window. Once, however, when I was 
 ill for days and he missed me, he got uneasy, so he 
 came into the house and upstairs, where he had 
 never flown before, and searched till he found me 
 in bed. He just looked at me, and away he flew." 
 
 " The cunning thing ! " 
 
 " No, he wasn't afraid, but he was satisfied. 
 Yes," after a pause, " I 've always thought 't was 
 Robin found Bully out of the nest, and knowing 
 he would get good treatment here, helped him into 
 my doorway ; and now that little helpless pink bit 
 is the tyrant of the house." 
 
 " I must meet him ! " said Edwina. 
 
 " If you are in the house this afternoon at three 
 and will come to my room, you will see him. He 
 is a creature of habit, and demands that I shall be 
 one too." 
 
 Eunice and Edwina were very fond of birds, and 
 they returned from a pilgrimage among the cairn- 
 gorm shops to keep this tryst, though they could
 
 SCOTLAND 99 
 
 have wished that Bully had not been quite so early 
 a bird. When they entered Miss McDonald's 
 room the bullfinch was hopping about the carpet 
 gathering such shreds as he could find, and only 
 paused in this occupation when Edwina whistled 
 to him. Swift and sidewise he hopped across to 
 her, and she stooped and nodded to him. He 
 turned tail and head toward her and bowed with 
 most courteous empressement, after the manner of 
 his kind. 
 
 " Just to think," she sighed, " of being in a 
 country where bullfinches grow in nests instead of 
 in bird-stores ! " 
 
 " He knows his friends," smiled Miss McDonald. 
 " You understand how to treat him." 
 
 The little fellow continued to courtesy and call 
 in return for Edwina's soft whistle and open flat- 
 tery ; but an idea seemed suddenly to strike him. 
 He bent his head to one side, glanced up at Miss 
 McDonald, and then flew out at the open door. 
 
 " It is three o'clock," she said. 
 
 They could hear a loud repeated cry in the cor- 
 ridor. 
 
 " He has found the door closed," explained Miss 
 McDonald. The others followed as she passed 
 into the hall, where her pet was making his wants 
 known. As soon as she opened the door they all 
 followed the whirr of his light wing, where he led 
 to the kitchen sink. Here he perched and called 
 peremptorily. 
 
 " He wants me to turn on the faucet," she re-
 
 100 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 marked, suiting the action to the word. The bull- 
 finch hopped down into its spray and took an elab- 
 orate and luxurious bath. 
 
 " He won't take a bath anywhere else or at any 
 other time," said Miss McDonald. " There you '11 
 see Robin on the sill if you '11 turn quietly," she 
 added. 
 
 Her guests obeyed, and saw on the stone ledge 
 of the window the venerable little robin, rather 
 faded as to plumage, eating away busily. 
 
 " Chaffy '11 be here too, perhaps." 
 
 " Is there another ? " asked Edwina. 
 
 Miss McDonald bent her head. " My chaffinch 
 has been coming for many years too. His little 
 wife was hurt one day, and I took her in and kept 
 her in a cage. Its door was open, and Chaffy 
 came and went as he liked. After a while she 
 became so much better she began going with him 
 and coming back again ; but I saw at last that she 
 was well able to be out, and after that I did n't 
 urge them to stay. That was some time ago," 
 added Miss McDonald with unbroken seriousness. 
 " Last spring we had a great grief ; Chaffy lost 
 his wife." 
 
 " Ah ! " exclaimed Edwina sympathetically. " I 
 wish we could see the little widower. Do look at 
 Bully ! " and her laugh drove the robin from the 
 sill, for the bedraggled bullfinch, too heavy to fly, 
 shook himself, looking out from his matted and 
 clinging feathers with unnaturally big eyes, his 
 forlorn little neck having a plucked appearance.
 
 SCOTLAND 101 
 
 " You look like a fright ! " exclaimed the girl, 
 stooping her head to him. He struggled up to a 
 low wooden shelf, and turning on her, opened his 
 miniature parrot beak, and squawked indignant 
 comments on her indelicacy for a minute before 
 proceeding with his toilet. 
 
 Miss McDonald's birds and her tales about them 
 constituted a powerful rival to the other charms of 
 Oban ; but Eunice and Edwina took many of the 
 excursions round about. Their Scotland was not 
 a country of clouds and rain, and it was a heavenly 
 clear morning that they took the boat for the islands 
 of lona and Staffa. This trip was indeed a voy- 
 age of discovery to them. They did not wonder 
 that this region is called the Norway of Scotland. 
 The wild beauty of islands, crags, and mountains, 
 and the vivid coloring of the water, were all novel. 
 They passed steep and lonely islands where only 
 gulls and cormorants hold sway, and about the 
 rocky coast strange creatures were diving. Por- 
 poises rolled about the boat, and gulls followed 
 them so closely that one could look straight into 
 their eyes as they uttered a plaintive, querulous 
 note like the cry of a kitten, then turned and dived 
 and swam lightly upon the wave. Gulls are the 
 ducks of Scotland, to be met on many an inland 
 watercourse. 
 
 As they neared lona its sandy beaches grew pure 
 white in the sun, and the waves about its shores 
 assumed vivid tints, purples, blues, light greens. 
 
 " I have n't seen any coloring like that," said
 
 102 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Miss Pritchard, " since I was a little girl in the 
 country and carried a rainbow fan to church." 
 
 The steamer when it anchored seemed floating in 
 a liquid emerald of exquisite transparence. Eunice 
 and Edwina stepped into one of the small boats 
 manned by voluble and incomprehensible Gaelic 
 boatmen, and soon set foot on that historic soil 
 where thirteen hundred years ago began the first 
 record of Christian history in Scotland. Is this 
 the same island which legend records as the haven 
 of that little Roman band of Christ's followers who 
 fled from the adulteration of their religion under 
 Constantine, to find a spot where they could re- 
 main true to the simple, strong, healing faith of 
 the Master ? 
 
 It is said of this company that when a ship ap- 
 peared on the horizon they prayed for a mist to 
 arise from the sea and shield them from discovery, 
 and that their prayer was answered ; but at last 
 their descendants swerved from this purity of faith. 
 They no longer prayed to be shielded, and so a 
 mist arose in their own minds and hearts. Stran- 
 gers came, their faith grew less, and the healing 
 power was lost. Primitive Christianity gradually 
 disappeared, not to be regained and grasped by 
 mortals until a second thousand years was well on 
 its way to completion. 
 
 Eunice and Edwina rambled over the soft green 
 flower-strewn fields, marveling at the stone ruins 
 of ancient monasteries and nunneries and the crude 
 carvings of ancient days, all set in the light and
 
 SCOTLAND 103 
 
 color and sparkle of a sea that seemed incapable of 
 mist. 
 
 From this scene their ship took them to Staffa. 
 In small boats they rowed deep into Fingal's Cave. 
 Its stones are gems of pink and red, and roseate 
 reflections brighten its shadowy depths. They 
 walked on the tops of its well-set pillars across the 
 island, wondering, wondering. Miss McDonald 
 lent them an Ossian when they reached home, and 
 they read that tale of Fingal's son. 
 
 But the day the travelers went to Loch Awe 
 was quite as enjoyable. What a good thing it is 
 for those fortunate pilgrims who do know Loch 
 Awe that everybody doesn't! Do the knowing 
 ones come back with fingers on lips, hoping to go 
 again sometime, and realizing that where " every 
 prospect pleases " man is apt to be especially 
 " vile " ? Otherwise how is it that a bed is obtain- 
 able in this paradise, or a seat in its little pleasure- 
 boat ? 
 
 Through a mountainous country of bracken and 
 gorse, heather and harebells, Eunice and Edwina 
 reached this gem of a lake one day and took their 
 places in the sunny corner of a waiting boat which 
 promised further enchantment. Many of the lofty 
 Bens are about this loch, among them Ben Cru- 
 achan and Ben Lui. Before these stand soft 
 wooded hills and deep gorges, whose reflections 
 form patches of bright indigo-blue and deep green 
 in the waves, as if even the water were trying to 
 be plaid. Farthest back against the sky the more
 
 104 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 distant mountains take opal tints, and all these 
 guardians lovingly surround their little loch, which 
 faithfully mirrors their beauties while it laps the 
 foot of ruined Castle Kilchurn. 
 
 Edwina leaned toward her companion. " How 
 is your better judgment feeling to-day, cousin 
 Eunice ? " she asked softly.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 
 
 BUT one morning Bully pulled Edwina's hair for 
 the last time. It was discriminating of him to re- 
 cognize that nothing better for the purposes of nest- 
 building than that light, fluffy substance could be 
 procured, and every day it had been his custom to 
 tug at it. 
 
 The two Americans said good-by to Miss Mc- 
 Donald and went reluctantly down the hill, and 
 again from a boat's deck beheld Oban on its curv- 
 ing green slope. The town which had looked so 
 unfriendly to their approaching vision now seemed 
 to smile a kindly adieu. 
 
 " I never saw such a girl as you are for going 
 away from places," said Miss Pritchard regretfully. 
 
 " Oh, we 're sampling, this time," returned Ed- 
 wina. " If," with a sigh, " if Miss McDonald 
 would only have let me take Bully ! " 
 
 " Yes, I think a cage added to our traps would 
 complete our happiness, especially with a bird who 
 would demand a bath daily at three o'clock P. M. 
 and raise the neighborhood if he did n't get it. 
 After all," added Eunice reminiscently, " that reg- 
 ular 5.45 A. M. bell on the excursion boat is one 
 thing we can be glad to get away from/'
 
 106 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Edwina laughed. " Poor little bell-pursued Eu- 
 nice ! " 
 
 " Yes, if Europe knew how to be still nights, it 
 would be greatly improved. Where are we going 
 to sleep (or wake) to-night ? " 
 
 " At Banavie. It will be fine to be so close to 
 Ben Nevis ; and there won't be any bells there." 
 
 " Then there '11 be roosters," said Miss Pritchard 
 with placid resignation. 
 
 They sailed past Dunolly Castle, through the 
 Firth of Lome, and into Loch Linnhe with its green 
 and heathery shores. Leaving the boat at Fort 
 William, they drove to Banavie, through the town, 
 and then over a moor where were marshes over- 
 grown with rushes and waxy white bell-flowers edg- 
 ing long stretches of upturned peat. Ben Nevis 
 loomed above them. They sat in the garden of the 
 Lochiel Arms and watched the crimson flush of 
 sunset deepen for minutes on the gigantic mountain 
 slopes. It was a sight that stirred the soul. 
 
 " Let 's not see it fade let 's not ! " exclaimed 
 Edwina when the color was glowing. She seized 
 her cousin's hand and rose from the garden seat, 
 lowering her eyes to hold the vision intact. Miss 
 Pritchard followed obediently. 
 
 " I don't care now, even if there are roosters," 
 she said in a hushed tone. 
 
 As usual for this favored pair, the following 
 morning was cloudless when they took the steamer 
 on the Caledonian canal. This, differing from the 
 river-like Crinan, seems a ribbon on which are
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 107 
 
 strung charming lochs wide and glassy sheets 
 that hold their pure lucid mirrors up to the face 
 of Highland Nature with an effect of doubling her 
 beauty in a manner quite indescribable. Some- 
 times the twin pictures are of ruined castles, some- 
 times of farms looking tiny upon the fair, spacious 
 hillsides. Sometimes a village nestles in a hollow, 
 one of them that of which the old Scotchman said : 
 
 " 'T is dangerous to linger in Drumnadrochit. 
 One is near to forgetting that we live in a misera- 
 ble vale of tears ! " 
 
 Eunice and Edwina did not go north of Inver- 
 ness. They spent a Sunday there, wondering at 
 the richly garbed Highland gentlemen in their 
 kilts, and rambling by the river Ness where the 
 gulls were swimming and flying in flocks. 
 
 Their next stop was at Edinburgh, where they 
 spent ten days mostly with Mary Stuart at Holy- 
 rood and the Castle. At the latter place they en- 
 joyed seeing the drill of regiments in white jackets 
 and tartans on the lofty parade-ground. The 
 swinging kilts and huge helmets of fur and feathers 
 of the Scotch soldiery then assailed their risibles 
 more than their hearts ; but when the events of the 
 following winter made tragic havoc in those brave 
 ranks, it was with a thrill and a pang that two 
 Americans remembered the parade under smiling 
 skies of the heroic Gordon Highlanders. 
 
 Edwina secured a quaint Scotch coachman for 
 their drive around Arthur's Seat, and as they 
 climbed Edinburgh's guardian mountain, he called
 
 108 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 their attention to the bonny fields below. He 
 showed them St. Margaret's Well, from which 
 water was always taken to baptize Scotland's royal 
 babies, and farther up the steep, Dunsappie Loch, 
 a miniature lake under Muschat Cairn, where he 
 told them in detail how the fairy folk skipped 
 down from the Cairn at night to bathe. 
 
 " How Bully would enjoy that ! '' said Edwina, 
 wistfully regarding the little wavelets. 
 
 "Not unless the fairies would bathe at three 
 P. M.," suggested Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Oh, he would n't permit them to go in when he 
 did. Would n't he pounce on them, though, and 
 tear them wing from wing ! I don't think I ever 
 met a more certain disposition than Pully's." 
 
 The sun went on shining, and Miss Bellair's 
 riddle concerning her gracious Queen lost its point. 
 Whether standing on Dean's bridge with Leith 
 Water running beneath, brown and clear, weaving 
 with its hilly wooded banks an interval of poetry 
 into a crowded city's prose, or visiting that other 
 bridge, the masterpiece that spans the Forth, all 
 rambles and drives were made under bright skies. 
 Only one day did the " haar " interfere with a view, 
 and when at last Eunice and Edwina took the train 
 for York, they were assured by native sages that 
 Scotia seldom had smiled, and seldom would again, 
 with such protracted graciousness as that in which 
 these guests had basked. 
 
 " Three weeks in Scotland, and only half an 
 hour's rain," said Edwina when they were settled in
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 109 
 
 the comfortable corridor car that was to take them 
 back to England. The scenery from its windows 
 formed a series of tantalizing views. Especially 
 did the gorge of Killiecrankie, with its rushing 
 river and myriad trees, trouble Edwina's sou) 
 with longings. " Oh, cousin Eunice," she groaned,. 
 " the next wedding trip you take, do engage a bet- 
 ter courier than I am. Look at the places we 're 
 letting get away ! " The speaker glanced up de- 
 sperately at their hold-all and dress-suit cases in 
 the- rack lumpish obstacles to quick movement, 
 as if but for them she could seize her companion 
 and jump off the train. 
 
 Miss Pritchard understood her look and smiled. 
 " Let 's come here sometime when we are disembod- 
 ied and don't need to look about for porters." 
 
 " Agreed. Don't you forget, now, that you have 
 a date with me. I know just what a little flibberty- 
 gibbet shade you '11 be." 
 
 " 'Sh ! " exclaimed Eunice, blushing and glan- 
 cing around to see if any one had heard. " Ned 
 Wilder, you 're irreverent ! " 
 
 "To whom?" 
 
 A stop at York, a short stay in London, a day 
 at Canterbury, and Eunice and Edwina at last 
 came to Dover. The day was breezy and clear, 
 and the dreaded channel rough. Miss Pritchard's 
 heart sank within her as her eyes fell on the wait- 
 ing boat. It seemed to her like a mettlesome steed, 
 leaping and champing at the bit, eager to be off. 
 
 " Now, you 're not going to have an uncomforta-
 
 110 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ble minute," said Edwina firmly, though inwardly 
 she quaked. " You 've attended to that too re- 
 cently." She led her cousin up the gang-plank 
 and toward a vacant deck chair. 
 
 " Well, this is lucky ! " exclaimed a pleasant 
 deep voice, as some one approached behind them. 
 
 " Mr. Champion," exclaimed Eunice in return, 
 too desperate for conventional greeting, " how can 
 you speak of luck here ? " She clutched the chair 
 with both hands, and had none to give him. 
 
 " Are you worrying over this trip ? Oh, it 's only 
 a step, and you 're not going to mind it on this 
 boat. If it were one of the small ones, I admit " 
 
 The speaker swiftly arranged the chair with a 
 deep slant, placed Miss Pritchard in it, and set the 
 dress-suit cases where her feet could rest on them. 
 " You will rock in the cradle of the deep and not 
 mind it in the least," he said with comforting 
 heartiness. " Now we 're off. Just close your eyes 
 and open them in a little while at Calais." 
 
 " Is n't water dreadful ! " moaned Eunice feel- 
 ingly. 
 
 " You 're going where they think so," said 
 Champion. " How will Miss Pritchard take to 
 the flowing bowl, Miss Wilder? " 
 
 Edwina smiled and shook her head. The wind 
 was fresh, and blew the spray in their faces as the 
 Pas de Calais steamed on. 
 
 Champion took a chair beside the girl near the 
 rail. " Did you get a letter from me ? " he asked. 
 
 "Yes, I did."
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 111 
 
 " I have n't received any from you." 
 
 " I know. You see, we have been moving about 
 so since it came " 
 
 " You have forced me to think of you as lost in 
 some dusty road on the way to Windsor. I had n't 
 much faith in that little wagon." 
 
 " Thank you," said Edwina, with what she felt 
 was a stupidly formal manner. " We did very 
 well. I hope your visit to the cathedrals has been 
 satisfactory." 
 
 " You 're very kind. Entirely so. Was n't it 
 odd we should have chanced on the same boat for 
 this crossing ? " 
 
 " I believe that is what is always happening in 
 Europe, isn't it? Americans can't avoid each 
 other." 
 
 " Would you like to avoid me for the next hour ? " 
 inquired Champion good-naturedly. " I hope there 
 is no danger of the steward's company being more 
 acceptable than mine." For already ominous-look- 
 ing little bowls were being carried hither and 
 thither past Miss Pritchard, who had obediently 
 closed her eyes, every feature of her face express- 
 ing endurance. 
 
 Edwina received this implication unsmilingly. 
 " It is rather unsatisfactory to shout at one another 
 against this wind, don't you think so ? " 
 
 "It is no opportunity for sweet nothings, that 's 
 a fact." 
 
 After this the girl gave herself up to the music 
 of the waves. Once her handkerchief nearly blew
 
 112 MISS PKITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 overboard, and Champion caught and restored it. 
 Then he took a letter from his pocket and re-read 
 it. Involuntarily Edwina's eye took note that it 
 was in a woman's writing. In their shipboard ac- 
 quaintance she had learned that Champion lived 
 in New York ; that he had studied at Harvard 
 College and the Ecole des Beaux Arts, and that 
 after a year's work at home he had won a money 
 prize in an architectural competition which he was 
 now expending in a return to the Old World. 
 
 When the boat neared the shore Edwina rose 
 and laid her hand on her cousin's clenched one. 
 " Look what a sailor you are ! " she said, with a 
 congratulatory note. 
 
 Miss Pritchard opened her eyes, at first fear- 
 fully, then with growing confidence. " Are we 
 there ? " eagerly. 
 
 " Yes, indeed." 
 
 " Was n't anybody sick ? " 
 
 " Yes, a number of people." 
 
 " Good ! " ejaculated Eunice, with such un-Chris- 
 tian fervor that both her companions laughed. 
 
 " Well, it is encouraging," she declared. 
 
 " How wonderful it is, Mr. Champion, that you 
 are always at hand when we have to go through a 
 hard place ! " added Miss Pritchard. " This land- 
 ing, I know, is going to be a bother with the 
 customs in a foreign language." 
 
 " Your cousin thinks it quite natural that we 
 should meet," he replied, a twinkle in his eyes, " in 
 fact, almost unavoidable."
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 113 
 
 " Yes, that 's just like Ned," said Eunice inno- 
 cently. " She is always expecting pleasant things 
 to happen." 
 
 At this Champion glanced at Edwina, who was 
 preoccupied watching the surrounding shipping. 
 " And have pleasant things happened right along 
 as they should ? " he asked, turning back to Miss 
 Pritchard. 
 
 " Oh, yes. We 've had a good time. I thought 
 perhaps we should see you when we were at York. 
 We spoke of you, did n't we, Edwina ? " 
 
 " Yes. I think cousin Eunice expected to find 
 you had been sitting on the steps of the cathedral 
 a month or so waiting for us." 
 
 " How did it impress you? " 
 
 " Oh, it is vast. Nothing we have ever seen 
 prepared us for these great spaces." 
 
 "But that that basement," said Miss Pritch- 
 ard, "was the worst place I ever tried to creep 
 around." 
 
 Champion smiled at this description of the hoary 
 crypt. " Did n't that herringbone masonry of the 
 Romans reward you for your exertions ? " 
 
 " What did I care for that ! " scornfully. " I 
 like places where I can stand up and see where I 'm 
 going." 
 
 " Cousin Eunice's room at York looked on a 
 railroad switch," remarked Edwina. " She sat up 
 with engines all night. Sometime she will forget 
 those and remember more about the cathedral." 
 
 " Then we came back to London," said Miss
 
 114 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Pritchard, " and what do you suppose it was, there ? 
 Skylarks in cages outside the hotel windows. 
 There 's no poetry about the poor little dears in 
 their canvas-topped cages, shrieking close to one's 
 ears at four o'clock in the morning." 
 
 " I dare say," returned Champion. " They were 
 designed to perform in a very large opera-house ; 
 but I hope you stopped at Canterbury and gained 
 a different idea of cathedral crypts." 
 
 " Yes, that was very fine. Edwina went wild 
 over Canterbury." 
 
 Miss Wilder did not take the cue, though her 
 cousin regarded her expectantly. She gazed still 
 at the shipping. " Even at Canterbury the serpent 
 entered in for poor cousin Eunice," she remarked. 
 " The bolt of her door at the hotel was rusty, and 
 she did n't dare slip it, and at nearly midnight a 
 man walked in with a lighted candle, mistaking 
 the room. Of course she slept no more. Let 's see, 
 cousin Eunice, our list of betes noires grows ; we 
 now have to ask about bells, poultry, engines, larks, 
 and men with bad memories for room-numbers." 
 
 " Here is France," said Champion, as the pas- 
 sengers began to press forward. " May you sleep 
 well and prosper on its shores, Miss Pritchard." 
 
 Champion escorted the ladies through the cus- 
 toms and found a place with them on the crowded 
 train for Paris. Arrived in that city, his help 
 in the confusion of the Gare du Xord was not to 
 be despised, even by Edwina, who, when he had 
 finally placed them in a cab, thanked him with a
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 115 
 
 sincere tone which made her again seem for the 
 moment like the girl he had known on the ocean 
 voyage. 
 
 As he turned away to his hotel her face was 
 present in his thoughts. " I wonder what has gone 
 wrong with Miss Wilder," he reflected. " Some- 
 thing in her trip has disappointed her, evidently. 
 She 's not at all the same. They say they have 
 enjoyed the summer, and Miss Pritchard is cer- 
 tainly honest." He shrugged his shoulders. " I 
 really can't see how I 'm accountable, but she 
 seems to think I am." 
 
 Edwina had chosen a little hotel near the Tui- 
 leries which had been recommended to them. Its 
 dark halls and smoky walls were compensated for 
 by the charming and kindly manner of host and 
 servants. 
 
 When ensconced in their rooms Miss Pritchard 
 turned upon her companion with a severity she 
 seldom employed. " Now explain yourself to me, 
 Edwina Wilder," she said deliberately. "I am 
 displeased that you have n't more self-control. Ad- 
 mitted that you don't like Mr. Champion ; I 
 thought I had succeeded better in bringing you up 
 to be courteous to everybody. He 's the very kind- 
 est young man I ever saw. What should we have 
 done without him ? " 
 
 " Just what we did with him," returned Edwina, 
 " except that you would have heard my French 
 addressing facteurs and cockers and the people at 
 the douane instead of his. You don't know what 
 you missed."
 
 116 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " When he asked you on the train about our 
 trip, you replied in monosyllables instead of telling 
 him interesting things. I was sitting too far away 
 to talk conveniently ; but I longed to let him know 
 we were n't both dumb and stupid." 
 
 " Dear little Eunice," ingratiatingly, " I was 
 too busy trying to sit up straight. Did you ever 
 see such uncomfortable seats, or ride in a train 
 that switched around like that ? When I play 
 crack-the-whip I like to be acquainted with all the 
 players. Did you notice the size of that French- 
 woman next me ? " 
 
 " Don't change the subject. No telling when 
 we shall see him again, since he is not staying in 
 Paris. That lovely smile of his ! What a comfort 
 it is to see his head and shoulders looming up 
 above those little cackling Frenchmen ! What 
 was being alone in London compared to being 
 alone in Paris? Oh, did you ask if there were 
 any bells ? " 
 
 " Ask whom ? Mr. Champion ? " 
 
 " No, at the office. I 'm afraid you don't know 
 how, Ned, and what shall we do? You ought to 
 have asked Mr. Champion how to say * bells ' and 
 * roosters.' ' : 
 
 Edwina nodded comfortingly. " I 'm nearly 
 certain there are no roosters taking the air on the 
 Quai, or the Pont Royal. As for the bells, I 'm 
 shocked at your faithlessness. Come down to the 
 office and listen to me ask if there are any cloches 
 pres d'ici ! "
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 117 
 
 Eunice and Edwina spent happy months in 
 Paris, wandering in the galleries, churches, and 
 palaces ; driving in the gay, clean streets and 
 alluring parks, and riding up and down the Seine 
 for hours watching the progress of the Fair build- 
 ings or the clear, bright sunsets. It was very 
 warm during the first week of their stay, but the 
 autumn weather crept on and held them charmed 
 in the windless, cool atmosphere until their third 
 month was half gone. 
 
 "^If we are going to visit the chateaux," said 
 Edwina one morning, " we shall have to start, or 
 it will be too cold. I don't feel at all enthusiastic 
 about it. I 'd quite as lief sit a few more hours 
 with the Venus di Milo." 
 
 " Oh, we must," said Miss Pritchard. " Think 
 what a point Mr. Champion made of it." 
 
 " We 're not architects ; and did n't we go to 
 Chartres to see the cathedral to please him ? " 
 
 " Yes ; and shall we ever forget the wonder of 
 it as long as we live ? " 
 
 So, as Edwina in her inmost heart feared lest a 
 treat should escape them, they took the trip through 
 Touraine, returning to Paris for one more night in 
 the black little hotel to which they had become so 
 attached, to arrange their luggage for a fresh start. 
 The only coercion in the delightful irresponsibility 
 of their trip was the desire Miss Pritchard had 
 expressed of having for once in her life the plea- 
 sure of following the summer. The Riviera was a 
 name to them only, and thither they had deter-
 
 118 MISS PRITCHARD' S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 mined to go on a tour of discovery. Long consul- 
 tations with Edwina's most loved and valued friend, 
 " Blessed Baedeker," had decided them to stop first 
 at Cannes, and thence flit along the coast of the 
 Mediterranean, pausing wherever there seemed 
 most attraction. 
 
 Once more they came down into the deserted 
 dining-room of the hotel for breakfast. Their de- 
 voted waiter Antoine always wore a sad and disap- 
 proving smile at this hour as he ministered to them 
 in his shirt-sleeves. How ladies so exceptionally 
 gentilles could be guilty of an act so little comme 
 il faut as to take their coffee in the dining-room 
 instead of in bed was a grievous problem to An- 
 toine ; and Edwina always felt his reproach at 
 their intrusion ; but Miss Pritchard was unhappy 
 unless she could air their rooms in New England 
 fashion, at a proper hour. 
 
 One fact which Eunice could not master was 
 that these people, hosts and servants, could not 
 understand English. Edwina explained and re- 
 minded her in vain. As they passed out from the 
 hotel this last morning, Miss Pritchard remarked 
 to their smiling landlord that it was really cold 
 weather. The polite man bowed with his head on 
 one side, and rubbed his hands. 
 
 " He can't understand you, cousin Eunice. 
 What's the use of embarrassing him?" said Ed- 
 wina, following her cousin into the cab. 
 
 " Why, I only said it was cold," returned Miss 
 Pritchard. " I supposed he had common sense."
 
 BY LAND AND SEA 119 
 
 They nodded back regretfully to the smiling, 
 bowing servants surrounding the doorway. Ed- 
 wina's pour boires had been entirely satisfactory. 
 Alas ! so had been Paris and they were leav- 
 ing it !
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 CANNES 
 
 IT was now the last of November, and our trav- 
 elers were glad of their furs. The landscape be- 
 gan to look wintry ; steam gathered on the car 
 windows. They broke their trip at Lyons, and 
 after a restful night set forth again on their jour- 
 ney. 
 
 They had taken the precaution to eat a beefsteak 
 at the hotel before starting. Not so a French 
 gentleman of about fifty, who was in the carriage 
 with them. At 11.30 he rose and took down from 
 the rack an oblong basket, a panier de repas, and 
 proceeded to enjoy a dejeuner a la fourchette with 
 a deliberation and neatness which proved almost 
 subversive of his companions' good manners. The 
 successful discussion of a six-course lunch with 
 three wines, in such narrow and unstable limits as 
 the corner of a railway carriage, was a work of art 
 which fascinated their observation in spite of their 
 efforts to appear unconscious. 
 
 Edwina's tickets for this trip lay heavy on her 
 mind. Beyond a certain point they required to 
 be vise, and at Tarascon, where there was a stop, 
 she left the train and tried to find the proper
 
 CANNES 121 
 
 official. In vain. Nearly every one she addressed 
 knew nothing of the matter, and the shining excep- 
 tion indifferently referred her to an office across 
 the network of tracks upon which were standing 
 other trains beside her own. She saw no way of 
 crossing, so boarded her car again in despair. 
 
 "Oh, I guess it will be all right," said Miss 
 Pritchard comfortingly. " They would n't make 
 it so hard if it were really necessary." 
 
 " Yes, they would in Europe," returned the 
 girl, rosy and annoyed. " They are all Tartarins 
 still, there at Tarascon. There was n't an ounce 
 of brains among the whole lot of officials on that 
 platform." 
 
 The train was now under way again. The man 
 who had eaten the elaborate lunch gazed at Edwina 
 through his spectacles. He saw that she was re- 
 garding her tickets, and at last he leaned forward 
 and asked her trouble. 
 
 She explained as well as she was able, in halting 
 French. 
 
 He took the tickets, examined them, and then 
 looked back at her with prominent, accusing eyes. 
 Why had she not arranged the matter at Tarascon ? 
 She had had plenty of time. " Ces billets ne sont 
 pas valable. Comprenez-vous ? Us ne sont pas 
 valable." 
 
 His manner and spectacles were so fierce, and 
 he was so stout and dignified, that Edwina replied 
 meekly that she supposed the tickets were value- 
 less, but that she had not been able to find the 
 chef de gare.
 
 122 MISS PRITCHARD 1 S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 One could always find the chef de gare. He 
 wore a white cap, responded the stranger ; and he 
 was so emphatic and voluble, and apparently out- 
 raged, that Edwina wanted to smile amid her 
 perplexity. 
 
 Miss Pritchard merely gathered that her child 
 was being scolded. " What is the matter, Ned ? " 
 she asked in tribulation. 
 
 " Nothing, except that we 've lost some money. 
 I 'd like to get hold of Cook. These tickets are 
 good for nothing the way they are now." 
 
 The other persons in the carriage regarded the 
 Americans curiously ; but the trouble was evidently 
 none of their business. The stout gentleman 
 relapsed into stolid, expressionless silence. He 
 seemed to forget that he still held Edwina's tickets 
 in his well-kept hands, and the girl hadn't the 
 courage to ask for them. 
 
 Miss Pritchard eyed them hungrily. " Do you 
 suppose he understands English ? " she murmured. 
 
 " No, I 'm pretty sure he does n't." 
 
 " Well, I hope you 're not going to let him 
 keep those tickets, Edwina. He may not know 
 everything, and you can explain things, I 'm sure, 
 to the conductor whoever it is. I don't suppose 
 they 'd have anything so straightforward as a con- 
 ductor." 
 
 " Well, we can't do anything while we 're flying 
 along like this. Wait a little while. I don't dare 
 to speak to him. I feel as if he had stood me in 
 the corner for punishment."
 
 CANNES 123 
 
 At the next stop Edwina was surprised to see 
 the portly personage rise and rush for the door. 
 " You don't suppose that blessed man is going to 
 try to help us at this little hamlet ! " Edwina 
 consulted the time-table. " We have only two 
 minutes ! " 
 
 " It would be too good of him ! " said Miss 
 Pritchard. " Oh, no ! Men are all too selfish 
 and then a Frenchman ! " 
 
 " I know it. I 've always said that every one 
 of them was possessed of an evil spirit but his 
 taking the tickets with him would n't that be 
 nice ! I dread to have some old railroad man 
 chatter at me and not be able to understand him. 
 This man speaks so beautifully. Oh, he '11 miss 
 the train, cousin Eunice ! " added the girl, much 
 perturbed, as the time was nearly up. " What 
 shall we do?" 
 
 Indeed, the guard was about to shut the door 
 when the tall stranger appeared in haste, and, 
 breathing heavily, climbed back into the carriage. 
 " I think it will be well," he said briefly to Edwina, 
 and explained that he had left the tickets with an 
 official on the train, who had promised to make 
 them right. 
 
 The girl summoned her most grateful French 
 for the occasion, and the stranger accepted it with 
 a short, unsmiling bow. It required his entire 
 attention for several minutes to recover his breath. 
 
 " The poor dear ! " murmured Edwina contritely, 
 as he sat there puffing, with averted eyes. " Are n't
 
 124 MISS PRITCHARUS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 we fortunate ! At last we have seen politeness 
 from a Frenchman who did n't want to sell us 
 something. Don't you know, cousin Eunice, how 
 we have wondered at the beauty of Paris when we 
 never could see a man who seemed capable of con- 
 ceiving, much less designing, its buildings and gar- 
 dens ? This man is a discovery for us. I hope 
 we have n't been the death of him." 
 
 The day's ride had been an interesting one. 
 Their kind friend had pointed out the Pope's 
 chateau at Avignon and the old fortification about 
 the city. They had seen olive groves, and women 
 gathering the fruit ; had skirted seventy-five miles 
 of plain where the only protection from that persist- 
 ent wind called the mistral is an interminable row 
 of cypresses set close together to break its force. 
 Stiff, useful barrier, Eunice and Edwina consid- 
 ered them, little realizing what poetry would cling 
 about a cypress-tree ere their continental trip was 
 finished. 
 
 Before darkness fell, the stout gentleman raised 
 his hat to them in farewell, and they were left 
 through his exertions to pursue their journey in 
 peace of mind. They leaned back in opposite cor- 
 ners of the carriage and looked idly at the feeble 
 light in the roof, or closed their eyes. Edwina's 
 thoughts reverted to the cold nights at Tour while 
 they had been taking the chateaux trip. How 
 impossible it had been to heat their bedrooms with 
 the open fires. How their breath had congealed 
 upon the atmosphere. It was cold now. Many
 
 CANNES 125 
 
 times during the day it had been necessary to 
 wipe the steam from the car windows in order to 
 see out. All trees but the olive and cypress had 
 been bare. 
 
 She glanced up, drawing her golf cape over her 
 lap. All at once she grasped Miss Pritchard with 
 a suddenness that made the latter start. " Cousin 
 Eunice ! The Mediterranean ! " she said. 
 
 "You don't say so!" ejaculated the other, sit- 
 ting up and looking out on the wide sheet of water 
 illumined in patches by the moon. 
 
 Grassy headlands jutted from the shore, and 
 large rocks met and broke the gentle waves, as the 
 train glided swiftly along. 
 
 " Did you suppose we ever really should see it?" 
 asked the girl. 
 
 " I don't know as I did, though I must say it 's 
 a good while since we left Paris." 
 
 " Paris ! America, I 'm thinking of, and my 
 geography." 
 
 They were both gazing upon the scene eagerly. 
 
 " I must say it puts me in mind of the coast of 
 Maine," remarked Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Perish the thought ! You ought to be thinking 
 of Napoleon and how he set sail for Elba." 
 
 It was half past ten when they reached Cannes. 
 Everything was so quiet about the station that 
 Edwina could scarcely believe it was the right 
 place, and when she was convinced, there seemed 
 not a porter to be had. In vain she called, and 
 ran up and down the platform, and at last a fellow-
 
 126 MISS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 traveler took pity upon her and lifted their heavy 
 hand-luggage out upon the platform. Then fol- 
 lowed the effort to rescue their steamer trunks 
 from the van. There was no official to take any 
 interest in their problem or to gladden their ears 
 with a word of English ; but a man was slowly 
 and indifferently pulling over the trunks, and 
 Edwina, by dint of smiles and personal supervision, 
 succeeded at last in getting theirs. 
 
 " If Mr. Champion were only here ! " groaned 
 Miss Pritchard. " This is the queerest place 
 we 've ever been in, Edwina, and it 's midnight, 
 and there 's nobody around." For the train pulled 
 out, and the dim station was nearly deserted. 
 
 Edwina smiled gayly. " It is n't midnight. This 
 is only a taste of southern indolence. There are 
 some hotel men coming across the tracks now." 
 She yielded their belongings to the first one who 
 presented himself, and in a few minutes the tired 
 travelers were seated in solitary state in an omni- 
 bus, driving through the darkened streets of the 
 French town. 
 
 " It 's just like a dream ! " suggested Edwina. 
 
 " Not so good as the one I 'm going to have 
 before another hour, unless there are bells and 
 every other noise combined." 
 
 " It 's like a city of the dead so far," returned 
 the girl. " I never saw such a quiet place." 
 
 " Just supposing it should be real quiet and 
 nice!" said Miss Pritchard, so wistfully that Ed- 
 wina patted her hand.
 
 CANNES 127 
 
 ' Jf it is n't, we '11 move on. You 're going to 
 have a quiet winter somewhere, dear little Eunice. 
 We '11 muffle all the bells and eat all the roosters, 
 if necessary." 
 
 The first warning they had of proximity to their 
 hotel was a sudden burst of light from somewhere. 
 They now observed that they had approached a 
 large dark building whose steps and vestibule had 
 gleamed electrically at the arrival of the omnibus. 
 Host and servants came forward hospitably, and 
 before long Eunice and Edwina were again by 
 themselves in a couple of communicating rooms. 
 
 " Is n't it odd to find wicker furniture ? " asked 
 Edwina, looking around at the pretty airy chairs 
 and divans. " Lace canopies over the beds, too ! 
 Well, it would be a brave mosquito who would 
 venture out in such a day as we have had." 
 
 The thoughts of both reverted to the clouds and 
 cold they had left in Paris ; the dingy furniture in 
 their bedroom at the hotel, and the procession of 
 baskets of wood which had been their defense 
 against the elements during the brief time since 
 the cold set in. A bell striking eleven sounded 
 so distant that Miss Pritchard said good-night most 
 cheerfully, and in a short time both travelers were 
 asleep. 
 
 The locked shutters of Edwina's windows looked 
 very white and clean to her waking eyes the follow- 
 ing morning. The rims of light along their inter- 
 stices showed that it was bright day. As she lay 
 there wondering if Miss Pritchard were awake, all
 
 128 MISS PRITCIIARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 at once she heard a strange sound. It was the coo- 
 ing of a wild dove. She lay in the bower of blue 
 and white which made the hotel room so strangely 
 airy and pleasant, and listened to the bird's note 
 with surprise. A strong curiosity assailed her to 
 see what sort of country could inspire birds to sing 
 at this season. 
 
 Moving to the window, she quietly unfastened 
 and opened the shutters, and the startling surprise 
 of the view brought the color to her face. A magic 
 wand seemed to have been waved over the earth. 
 Frosty, withered fields had vanished. Instead of 
 gaunt and leafless skeletons, tall palms spread their 
 fans abroad. Orange and lemon trees full of fruit 
 filled the gardens. Roses climbed a tall mimosa 
 and hung luxuriant blossoms amid the delicate foli- 
 age high in air. Close by stretched the sparkling 
 sea ; the Esterel Mountains, losing themselves in a 
 blue haze, were on the right. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's door flew open. " Did you 
 ever ! " ejaculated the two overjoyed pilgrims in 
 the same breath. 
 
 " Why, it 's Paradise, and I can't possibly under- 
 stand finding it so near ! " said Eunice. " A lump 
 came right up in my throat when I first looked out 
 the window. Does n't the trunk of that palm-tree 
 look just like a giant pineapple ? And I 'm cer- 
 tain the foliage spreads nearly thirty feet. I 'm 
 going to find somebody who talks English, for I 'm 
 sure you would n't be willing to ask all the ques- 
 tions that are in my head ! "
 
 CANNES 129 
 
 For two weeks the problem had been how to 
 keep warm. Now with startling suddenness it was 
 again midsummer. Eunice and Edwina walked 
 in a happy dream about the hotel grounds and 
 along the palm-lined avenue that ran beside the 
 seashore, bordered by villas and hotels of varied 
 architecture, each set in its semi-tropical garden of 
 mimosa, orange, lemon, palm, and eucalyptus trees, 
 and always with riotous roses climbing to audacious 
 heights or hanging pendent from a terrace in such 
 profusion as to suggest impossible stage settings. 
 
 Warm, tired, and happy, they returned to the 
 hotel to luncheon. There were several small tables 
 in the dining-room, and their neighbors at one of 
 these were a stout, silent woman, and a gaunt 
 old man whose black beard and scanty locks were 
 fast whitening, and whose haggard, discontented 
 eyes looked out from a network of quarrelsome 
 wrinkles. The corners of his unsmiling, thin lips 
 were down-drawn, and he regarded Eunice and 
 Edwina with cold curiosity. They had already 
 met at breakfast, so the newcomers now bowed to 
 their English cousins with a word of greeting as 
 they took their seats. 
 
 " You are Americans," remarked the man. 
 
 " We can't deny it," said Edwina cheerily. 
 
 " I need hear an American say only one word to 
 know her nationality, and that word is Paris. You 
 said it this morning." 
 
 " I suppose so," returned Edwina. " Our r is 
 so different from the pretty English r."
 
 130 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Her pleasant speech galvanized the stout lady 
 into an utterance. 
 
 " It is, is n't it ? " she said. 
 
 " What do you think of Cannes ? " pursued the 
 old gentleman in his harsh, tired voice. 
 
 " It is the prettiest place we have ever seen." 
 
 " Ow ! " 
 
 After this comment he ate in silence for half a 
 minute, then : " Have you visited England? " 
 
 " Yes, but its beauty is so different." 
 
 " It is, is n't it ? " said the stout lady. 
 
 " Ow ! " said her companion. 
 
 " We did n't think to take parasols this morning," 
 remarked Miss Pritchard, " and really the sun was 
 very hot." 
 
 "Dangerous very," declared the Englishman. 
 " It will give you a congestion without fail ; " then, 
 noticing that rays were striking his shoulder at the 
 present moment, he summoned a waiter to draw 
 the shade. " The sun here shining on the back 
 of the neck often gives one typhoid fever, or else 
 drives one mad," he announced oracularly. 
 
 " It does, does n't it, and it 's very tiresome," 
 purred the stout lady, her soft voice falling like oil 
 on the other's harsh accents. " Me brother would 
 never come here if it were n't for his tubes." 
 
 " Humph ! " ejaculated her companion ungrate- 
 fully. Then letting his cold glance rest on Edwina 
 again, " I suppose you walked on the Croisette ? " 
 
 " I suppose so down by the water ? " 
 
 " Too many people there. I never go. Try the
 
 CANNES 131 
 
 Boulevard Middy. Walk up through the alleys 
 of plane-trees and around by the shipping, and 
 you '11 come out on the Middy. It 's quiet there." 
 
 Edwina thanked him. Somehow she could not 
 refrain from a feeling of compassion for the crusty 
 old man, whose face looked as if happiness were a 
 lost art ; and she certainly pitied the stout, soft 
 sister who was the companion of his sour search 
 for health. 
 
 " Guard against the changes if you don't want 
 to fall ill," he went on. " You will see when the 
 sun goes down the contrast is very trying. The 
 fires must be lighted at once." 
 
 " Then it is cool in the evening ? " said the girl 
 with interest. " That 's the reason, cousin Eunice, 
 that we did n't suspect last night that we had 
 reached Eden." 
 
 " The hour of sunset is worst of all," went on 
 the Englishman in measured tones. " My sister is 
 sometimes idiot enough to be shopping at sunset." 
 
 " Not very often, Edward, am I ? " 
 
 " The Rue d'Antibes is a cold, damp death-trap 
 at that hour. It 's well to remember it." 
 
 Eunice sent a solemn, inquiring look at the 
 couple, but the lady was apparently unmoved by 
 her brother's characterization. In fact, she con- 
 strued Miss Pritchard's glance as an inquiry. 
 
 " The shops are very dear in Cannes," she said, 
 " quite different to London." 
 
 Edwina wanted to say " Ow ! " but she restrained 
 herself. " We saw that they were very attractive.
 
 132 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 My cousin, Miss Pritchard, is still misled when it 
 comes to understanding the price of anything in 
 francs. She is always saying to me, ' Oh ! don't 
 tell me how much it is in that stuff ! Tell me in 
 money.' ' 
 
 " Ay," responded the Englishman, " twenty-five 
 francs doesn't sound much like a pound, does 
 it?" 
 
 " Oh, pounds and shillings puzzle cousin Eunice 
 quite as much." 
 
 " Ha, you meant ' dollars,' then," said the old 
 man, with implied scorn. " You said ' money.' " 
 
 " What a cantankerous creature ! " exclaimed 
 Miss Pritchard when later she and Edwina were 
 alone. " I would n't talk to him so much, Ned." 
 
 " Oh, I have to talk I 'm so happy ! " returned 
 the girl. " Poor man ! The idea of coming to 
 this garden of Eden and thinking about typhoid 
 fever and insane asylums and congestion and death- 
 traps ! And he has to live with himself, and so 
 does that poor, meek sister ! They take themselves 
 so seriously that we don't need to, that 's one com- 
 fort. Now, cousin Eunice, what shall we do this 
 afternoon?" 
 
 " Well, what do you want to do ? " Eunice's 
 brow had cleared. She gazed up at her tall com- 
 panion with the usual loving admiration as they 
 leaned on the railing of their balcony, looking on 
 the tossing, bright water. 
 
 The girl made a gesture of mock despair. 
 " There is such an embarrassment of riches, I
 
 CANNES 133 
 
 don't know what to say. We might go to the Rue 
 d'Antibes and commit some delightful extrava- 
 gance in a shop, or go down to the Croisette and 
 sit on one of those seats and watch the sea break 
 on the islands, or we might take a drive back 
 among the hills ; but I think perhaps our letters 
 will have come. We might go to the post-office 
 and then hunt up Edward's favorite walk." 
 
 "Whose?" 
 
 " I don't know his other name yet, but sister 
 called him Edward." 
 
 " Ned Wilder ! " laughed Miss Pritchard re- 
 provingly. 
 
 They found some letters awaiting them, and it 
 seemed to Eunice that Edwina was altogether too 
 pleased by this fact. Then they strolled to the 
 Croisette, and turning to the right, passed beside 
 the alleys of bare plane-trees and the harbor as 
 they had been told ; then around Mont Chevalier 
 with its old, old houses and church, until the 
 Boulevard du Midi was gained. Edwina drew a 
 deep breath of pleasure. At their right on a steep 
 height were placed white embowered villas and 
 terraces, and on their left the sea rolled in in stately 
 sweep over a broad, sandy beach. 
 
 " Edward's looks belie him," declared Edwina. 
 " He certainly knows a good thing when he sees 
 it." 
 
 " Ned Wilder, stop ! You must n't be so imper- 
 tinent." 
 
 " Keep your parasol up, little Eunice. I can't
 
 134 MISS PR1TCHAR&S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 have those brains addled. I don't know how to ask 
 for an insane asylum in French." 
 
 " But it is so cool and breezy here," protested 
 Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " It 's fine ! Here is a seat. I '11 hold the para- 
 sol and read my letters to you. Why, here 's one 
 from Mr. Glenn ! I did n't see that." 
 
 " I did," responded Miss Pritchard dryly. " I 
 noticed it immediately ; and it does seem to me in 
 very poor taste for him to keep on writing this way 
 and taking your time." 
 
 " It is so valuable, is n't it ? " laughed Edwina. 
 " I call it very nice of him to go on sending me 
 letters when I return such poor and rare replies. 
 I call him a friend worth having.'-' 
 
 Eunice's jealous sense made much of the fact 
 that the girl opened this letter first. Had Edwina 
 saved it until the last, it would have conveyed 
 quite as objectionable an impression. Then, too, 
 she scanned the contents in silence instead of read- 
 ing them aloud, as she had proposed doing. 
 
 Miss Pritchard looked unseeingly at the charm- 
 ing sky-line of the Esterel Mountains and the line 
 of foam fringing their base. Was she never to be 
 rid of Ralph Glenn ? Must his persistence insure 
 no break in a friendship which would be as dan- 
 gerous upon their return as it had been on their 
 departure ? 
 
 "Ned," she said impulsively, as at last the girl 
 dropped Glenn's letter and took up the next, " I 
 should really be glad if you were to tell Mr. Glenn
 
 CANNES 135 
 
 frankly that I prefer you not to correspond with 
 men." 
 
 " Oh, cousin Eunice ! " Edwina's clear skin 
 flushed, and her eyes as they met her cousin's were 
 full of surprise. "Don't you think that would 
 sound awfully prim and and silly ? " 
 
 " It would n't have been considered so in my 
 young days." 
 
 " You can hardly call such a one-sided affair a 
 correspondence," said Edwina, recovering herself. 
 " Here, I did n't offer you the letter simply because 
 I did n't think it would interest you ; it 's mostly 
 about a new cotillon club. Read it, dear little 
 Eunice, and fancy how comical it would be to re- 
 spond to this sort of letter by an announcement 
 that my cousin did n't wish me to correspond with 
 men." 
 
 An irrepressible laugh broke the lines of the 
 pursed lips with which Edwina finished her 
 speech. 
 
 " Then don't respond at all." 
 
 " Oh, it would never do to ignore totally a man 
 who sends one the sort of roses Mr. Glenn does ! 
 How," with a sigh, "how traveling in a foreign 
 land does make one appreciate American men ! " 
 
 Miss Pritchard's gentle eyes gazed into the 
 roguish ones with such seriousness that Edwina 
 took the hand that wore her father's ring. " You 're 
 jealous of me, cousin ! " she said accusingly. 
 
 "Why shouldn't I be?" sadly. "You have 
 hosts of friends ; I have nobody but you in all the 
 world."
 
 136 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Girlish exaggeration, little Eunice ! You 
 might have any friends you wanted. As it is, I 
 can mention several : for instance, Miranda and 
 and Mr. Champion." 
 
 " Pooh ! " said Miss Pritchard with an unwill- 
 ing smile. 
 
 " You say pooh ? Was it nothing for me the 
 night we arrived in Cannes, to see you walking up 
 and down the platform at the station invoking Mr. 
 Champion in impassioned accents, at a time when 
 you should have been reposefully, smilingly trust- 
 ing me and my command of the French tongue ? " 
 
 " French tongue ! It was command of hands 
 and feet we wanted and no porters about and 
 everybody half asleep and indifferent, and the 
 train ready to go off with all our things in it." 
 
 " Well, we know now the sort of sunny, dreamy 
 day those porters had all been having. If we had 
 known then, we should not have been so surprised 
 at their indolence. Now I must finish these let- 
 ters ; and just be sure, cousin Eunice," the bright 
 voice grew gentler, " I care more for your little 
 finger than I do for this whole lapful of people." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's brow cleared. " I don't know 
 as it 's wicked for me to be glad of that, Ned. If 
 I did n't really believe," her eyes grew doubtful, 
 " that I cared more for your happiness than I do 
 for my own, I should be ready to jump into this 
 ocean." 
 
 " Of course you do, dear," said Edwina, opening 
 an envelope.
 
 CANNES 137 
 
 " I 'm just going to walk a little way up the 
 street while you read," said Miss Pritchard. " That 
 smooth walk and those gardens look so attractive." 
 
 So Edwina was left alone with the music of the 
 surf foaming snow-white upon the broad sands, 
 where a few children and their maids were playing, 
 armed with pails and shovels. She could not tell 
 how long she had been reading when a voice beside 
 her spoke. 
 
 " This is remarkable ! " The sudden presence 
 and voice sent color all over her face. 
 
 " You here, Mr. Champion ? " She placed her 
 hand for a second in his outstretched one. " How 
 does this happen? " 
 
 " It is cold in Brittany. May I sit down ? " 
 
 " It is a public seat," returned Edwina, though 
 her face was less ungracious than her words. 
 
 " Don't you think it is about time you forgave 
 me? " asked the young man as he took the vacant 
 place on the bench and regarded the rosy face in- 
 tently. 
 
 " For what, pray ? " 
 
 " I have n't the least idea." 
 
 " Nor have I. You are imaginative." 
 
 " No." A decided shake of the head. " I 
 never was. Always have to have everything ex- 
 plained to me." 
 
 " How tiresome ' tarsom,' as the English ladies 
 say," returned Edwina suddenly and ostentatiously 
 cheerful. " Have you been in Cannes before ? 
 Why did n't you tell us how lovely it was? ''
 
 138 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " I 've put my brains to the question by all the 
 inquisitorial torture I could think of, and the only 
 information they have given is meagre. Did you 
 feel insulted by the ramshackle little wagon and 
 the cockneys that I got for you at Ascot ? There 
 was n't anything else on wheels to be had." 
 
 " Surely you don't think me quite so foolish 
 and ungrateful ! " said the girl, crimson now. 
 " Was n't it bad enough to delay you and incom- 
 mode your whole party without being over-partic- 
 ular as to what you found for us ? " 
 
 " It only kept them five minutes what was 
 that ? Nobody minded," he answered in a puzzled, 
 honest tone. 
 
 " It was a pity cousin Eunice was so unneces- 
 sarily nervous ; but why rake up that episode ? 
 Did n't we thank you sufficiently ? " 
 
 In the silence that followed Champion met her 
 hard, bright eyes with several little thoughtful 
 nods. " It was that, then. Otherwise, you could 
 n't say what our British friends would call a nasty 
 thing like that. Well, do you know, I really can't 
 understand it at all. I only wish you 'd be again 
 as you were on the ship and sometime, just to 
 educate me, tell me what feature of that day you 
 could lay up against me so long. Miss Pritchard 
 was n't unnecessarily nervous. The situation was 
 quite as awkward as she thought it. I will tell 
 you now, and then you will see that you have n't 
 thanked me enough, that I bribed that driver 
 heavily to take you both and go. He was waiting
 
 CANNES 139 
 
 for two passengers, both men ; so under the cir- 
 cumstances I could n't have any compunctions." 
 
 " How much did you give him ? " asked Edwina, 
 breathing- faster. 
 
 " Thank you ! " returned her companion, remov- 
 ing his hat with ironical deference. His eyes con- 
 tained sparks now, but fortunately Miss Pritchard 
 saw him ; and being short-sighted and thinking 
 the salute was intended for her, she hastened her 
 advancing steps. 
 
 " I did n't know who else it could be," she said 
 in pleased surprise, while Champion sprang to his 
 feet. " When I saw a gentleman sitting with my 
 little girl I just said to myself how nice it would 
 be " Miss Pritchard threw more cordiality into 
 her tone as Edwina's expression impressed itself 
 on her consciousness. 
 
 " I never knew her to take such a dislike to a 
 human being," was her appalled mental parenthe- 
 sis as she hastened to attempt to offset her child's 
 manner by a continuation of welcome.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 CHAMPION gave the newcomer the place he had 
 vacated, and himself took a seat on a log close by. 
 
 " How well you are looking, Miss Pritchard. I 
 need n't ask if you have been enjoying yourself. 
 How did you like Paris ? Of course you went out 
 to Versailles ? " 
 
 " Yes, we did, and walked miles through that 
 palace, with the paintings and the glitter, and then 
 over the Grand Trianon, the man that explains 
 things chattering all the time. Edwina could n't 
 understand it all, could you, dear ? " 
 
 There was an almost imploring note in Miss 
 Pritchard's" question, and as she turned to her 
 companion she observed with relief that the hos- 
 tile look in her face had faded. 
 
 " Not nearly all," replied the girl, bringing her 
 gaze back from the blue-green waves and facing 
 Champion. " The guide evidently noticed the 
 vacuity of my countenance, for he made several 
 confidential asides in my direction about Queen 
 Victoria. I could get along with French very well 
 if they 'd let me do all the talking and give me 
 time."
 
 REMINISCENCES 141 
 
 " Yes, they always thought we were English," 
 said Miss Pritchard. " In the shops, clerks used 
 to smile and tell me things cost for instance, 
 three francs tuppence ha'penny as if those things 
 were n't much worse than francs ! " 
 
 " Poor cousin Eunice ! " Edvvina smiled remi- 
 niscently. After a moment she continued : " There 
 was a clock at the Grand Trianon that we would 
 have accepted if they had pressed it upon us. It 
 was a bunch of gold flowers." 
 
 " How pretty it was," sighed Miss Pritchard. 
 " What a beautiful place it is altogether ; such 
 fine trees, and woods just like the country ! " 
 
 " Of course you went over Marie Antoinette's 
 playhouse ? " suggested Champion. 
 
 " Oh, the little Trianon," responded Eunice 
 with enthusiasm. " We did n't want to come 
 away from that pretty village at all. We looked 
 in through the dairy window at the marble slab 
 where the queen made butter, and walked around 
 among all the cottages and saw the moss growing 
 on their thatched roofs, and we sat on the bridge 
 and watched the gold-fish and carp in the winding 
 river, and the sun came through the foliage of 
 those great trees. Do you remember, Ned, how 
 transparent the leaves looked ? " 
 
 " Yes, it was enchanting that afternoon ; but 
 how tired we were ! W r e asked a man the pur- 
 pose of one of the prettiest cottages, and he said it 
 was the boudoir of la reine where she reposed her- 
 self in a wrapper of percale when fatigued ! We
 
 142 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 would have accepted any sort of wrappers if we 
 could have reposed ourselves anywhere ; but we 
 were n't invited." 
 
 " So we rode back to Paris on top of the tram. 
 Think of me," said Miss Pritchard laughing, 
 " climbing to the top of trams and omnibuses ! " 
 
 " Was it against your better judgment ? " in- 
 quired Champion. 
 
 She shook her head at his smiling face. " Of 
 course it was until " 
 
 " Until she found how much better she could 
 view these strange people," explained Edwina. 
 
 " Yes, people who live on the sidewalk instead 
 of in houses," said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Wait till you get to Italy to see people live on 
 the sidewalk," remarked Champion. " How do 
 you like the Exposition buildings ? I stopped and 
 saw them just before coming down here." 
 
 " Oh, we had many a good time riding up and 
 down the river watching the buildings go on, 
 Isn't it wonderful to have such a pretty river in a 
 city ? When it winds under those gray arches and 
 you get out to where the banks are green and hilly 
 and they have such beautiful sunsets why, it 's 
 grand. How much more European cities manage 
 to keep the beauty of the country than any of ours 
 do at home ! " 
 
 Edwina watched her cousin's animation wonder- 
 ingly. Could this little woman, chatting volubly 
 to one of the opposite sex, be the same who in 
 Boston endured the presence of the most agreeable
 
 REMINISCENCES 143 
 
 masculine acquaintance only with suspicion and re- 
 pressed aversion ? The change was due in part to 
 the blossoming of Miss Pritchard's faculties in the 
 freedom and novelty of the last six months' ex- 
 periences ; but it was also due, Edwina knew, to 
 the fact that her little guardian felt the responsi- 
 bility of keeping a cheerful atmosphere about the 
 man whom she had taken into her favor for his 
 kind services. 
 
 She sat in silence while Miss Pritchard de- 
 scanted on the charms of St. Cloud as they had 
 seen it one day when the fountains were playing. 
 Eunice described the twelve terraces with their 
 varied sculpture, the marble groups at the top 
 thrown into relief by the dark greens of the sur- 
 rounding forest, and how the water splashed down 
 this broad staircase in noisy cascades, every one of 
 the carved sea-creatures ornamenting the terraces 
 sending a flood from its jaws, the whole emptying 
 into an oblong basin studded with occasional jets, 
 gracefully rising and falling. Edwina let her pro- 
 ceed, although she was aware how familiar a scene 
 that must be to Miss Pritchard's listener. 
 
 " You tell very pretty stories. Go on," said 
 Champion. He had made himself comfortable 
 upon the sand, his back against the log. 
 
 " Oh, we could go on indefinitely, could n't we, 
 Ned ? We had a fine time at the two big gardens 
 the Acclimation one and the garden of plants. 
 You know they both have animals." 
 
 " Cousin Eunice, Air. Champion lived in Paris a 
 long time," suggested Edwina.
 
 144 MISS PEITCHAEVS WELLING TRIP 
 
 " Don't mind her, Miss Pritchard, please." 
 
 " Oh, I always mind her," said Eunice quickly. 
 " I 'm a properly brought-up American guard- 
 ian." 
 
 Her cousin's suddenly dry tone caused the girl 
 to look at her in doubt. Eunice occasionally had 
 fits of spirit and decision even against her idol. 
 Edwina saw that, having made a special and un- 
 usual effort, the worm had turned, and a speak- 
 ing glance from her cousin warned her that she 
 was now expected to take her turn. 
 
 " Yes, I think no two people ever enjoyed out- 
 door Paris more than we did," she remarked. 
 " We lived close to the Tuileries, and often sat in 
 the gardens on our way either to or from a visit to 
 the Venus ; the flowers, and tame sparrows, and 
 always the people, were so entertaining. The 
 great white poodles coming up snowy from their 
 scrub in the river, with fresh blue ribbons, always 
 amused us, and the small black and tans dressed 
 in tailor-made blankets with storm collars and 
 pockets with tiny handkerchiefs. We used to 
 take books with us to the gardens and try to read, 
 but there was always too much to see." 
 
 " Of course you formed the patisserie habit ? " 
 
 " Naturally ; and I see Cannes is not the place 
 to break it." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's countenance had relaxed into 
 such complacency that Edwina continued : " We 
 thought Paris by gaslight quite as marvelous a 
 spectacle as it is called. Do you remember,
 
 REMINISCENCES 145 
 
 cousin Eunice, that Sunday afternoon when we 
 took a cab by the hour in the Bois de Boulogne? " 
 
 " Yes, when the coachman coolly explained that 
 the reason he drove so slowly was because other- 
 wise the course would be too cheap ! " 
 
 " Well," looking back at Champion, " afterward 
 we sat in the Avenue Bois de Boulogne and 
 watched the driving ; then sauntered with the pro- 
 cession as far as the Arc de FEtoile. By the time 
 we found our 'bus and climbed to the roof, it was 
 dark. What views we had that evening ! Every- 
 thing on wheels in Paris seemed to be out, and 
 every carriage had two lamps. When we had nearly 
 reached the Tuileries, the long uphill perspective 
 of the Champs Elysees was alive with thousands 
 of glowing lights surmounted by the grand arch. 
 The fountains in the Place de la Concorde were 
 ghostly white, and so were the statues in the 
 Tuileries. We walked home through the gardens, 
 and as we crossed the Pont Royal the Seine was 
 shimmering with colored reflections. It was a 
 picture to stay with one indefinitely." 
 
 Champion watched the speaker's vivacious face 
 attentively ; and when she had finished he addressed 
 Eunice. " I fancy you have a very good courier, 
 Miss Pritchard." 
 
 " Oh, she 's the best in the world ! " was the 
 earnest reply. 
 
 " You have n't told me about your trip through 
 Touraine." 
 
 " We enjoyed it greatly, and were glad you 
 urged us to go, were n't we, Ned ? "
 
 146 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Yes, except during the cold evenings at Tours." 
 
 " You made that headquarters ? " 
 
 " Yes ; we would take the train every morning 
 and visit one of the chateaux and come back every 
 evening." 
 
 " It was beautiful, bright, frosty weather, with 
 clear sunshine, and always a moon to come home 
 by," said Miss Pritchard ; " but those hotel rooms 
 were cold at night, no mistake. We used to sit 
 close to our open fire, but see our breath just the 
 same." 
 
 " And I know just how the sheets felt," re- 
 marked Champion, " as if they were made of 
 celluloid and dipped in ice-water." 
 
 " Exactly," laughed Edwina ; " but how many 
 Millet pictures we saw those days as we drove 
 among the dewy fields where the peasant women 
 in short blue skirts were knitting and tending their 
 cows and sheep ! The valley of the Loire is cer- 
 tainly very beautiful. Before going to Tours we 
 stopped at Blois to see that chateau. Do you re- 
 member, cousin Eunice, how the wide, winding 
 river looked that night as we stood on the bridge 
 with the sunset turning the water crimson on one 
 side and the nearly full moon brightening on the 
 other?" 
 
 " Indeed I do ; and those tile floors at our 
 hotel ! " 
 
 " The only door to my room opened upon a 
 court with the clearest starry sky for a roof." 
 
 Miss Pritchard laughed. " We clung to our
 
 REMINISCENCES 147 
 
 hot- water bags those nights, and did n't think much 
 about steam-heated, carpeted houses." 
 
 " What did you think of the Blois chateau ? " 
 
 " Oh, of course we thought of Catherine de 
 Medici all the time," replied Edwina. " It was a 
 satisfaction to know she really died there." 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Eunice, shaking her head. 
 " I 've wondered so often since we 've been over 
 here, how people could have been so wicked in 
 such beautiful places. From Hampton Court on, 
 I 've just been asking myself that question, and in 
 the Chateau country more than ever." 
 
 "You drove out to Chambord before you left 
 Blois ? " 
 
 " Yes ; that is where we saw so many Millet 
 pictures among the fields and the farmhouses and 
 little villages." 
 
 " You saw a different sort of French people from 
 the Parisians." 
 
 " Yes, indeed ; and attractive people they are. 
 Even the little boys pulled off their caps to us as 
 we drove by." 
 
 " Did you go on the roof at Chambord ? " 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Champion, what a wilderness of spires 
 and sculpture and turrets and towers that roof is ! " 
 said Eunice- " And to look off and think that for 
 twenty square miles those forests and avenues and 
 fields are all the grounds belonging to that solitary 
 castle ! " 
 
 " Did you see the room where Moliere used to 
 try his comedies on the dog ? "
 
 148 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Did they say anything about a dog, Ned ? " 
 asked Eunice simply. " Mind you, I never knew 
 a word anybody was saying from the time we left 
 Paris till we got back again. Nobody spoke one 
 word of English." 
 
 " But cousin Eunice remembers the double spi- 
 ral staircase," said Edwina, smiling at the water. 
 
 " Yes ; did n't she send me down with that chat- 
 tering guide while she went down right side of us, 
 yet out of sight ! I tell you I was glad to meet 
 her again on terra firma." 
 
 " Did you go on to Amboise next ? " 
 
 " No, we stopped first at Onzain," replied Ed- 
 wina, " and took a carriage to the chateau of 
 Chaumont." 
 
 "Oh, you wanted to see more of your friend 
 Catherine de Medici." 
 
 "Yes, there in her bed-chamber was her prie- 
 dieu fancy her having a prie-dieu ! and close 
 by was a fine chapel. We were shown into her 
 astrologer's room. I should think she oftener 
 worshiped there." 
 
 " That was a lovely place," said Miss Pritchard 
 pensively. " The grounds are princely, and so 
 high above the river. Such vines and flowers and 
 trees such luxuriant beauty ! How could she 
 have held one bad thought there ? But did n't we 
 have a funny lunch in in the village when we 
 got back, Ned ? I never can pronounce any of 
 those names." 
 
 " Yes, where the chickens had to be driven out
 
 REMINISCENCES 149 
 
 from under the table across the stone floor of the 
 dining-room. From there we went to Amboise." 
 
 " Oh, I remember," said Miss Pritchard. 
 " That 's the one the poor owner can't see because 
 he is exiled from France." 
 
 " And the one where Da Vinci died and is bur- 
 ied," suggested Champion. 
 
 " Oh, yes ; a bust of him was in the garden. 
 Think of that garden up in the air where it is." 
 
 " Yes," said Champion, " and the spiral inclined 
 plaiie instead of a staircase, where the lords and 
 ladies rode up to wander among the arbors and 
 flowers." 
 
 Miss Pritchard sighed. " I 'd rather think about 
 that than about those mammoth stone terraces with 
 their openings for guns, and all those trap-doors 
 that opened to drop rocks on enemies' heads." 
 
 " Oh, yes," responded Champion. " They had 
 all the modern conveniences at Amboise. I believe 
 that was where Queen Catherine had a massacre 
 of a thousand odd people in sight of the court 
 a sort of dress rehearsal for St. Bartholomew's. 
 Then you went on to Tours ? " he asked, looking 
 at Edwina. 
 
 " Yes. We stayed at Tours and went out from 
 there to shiver over the dungeons at Loches, and 
 marvel and rejoice over Langeais, Azay-le-rideau, 
 and, best of all, Chenonceaux." 
 
 " You felt familiar with porcupines and sala- 
 manders and ropes before you finished? " 
 
 " Yes, and knew the portraits of a long line of
 
 150 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 French royalty as well as we did our own family 
 album." 
 
 " And was n't it wonderful how Edwina's French 
 carried us through so successfully ? " asked Miss 
 Pritchard with nai've pride. 
 
 " Certainly," said Edwina quickly. " I was n't 
 obliged to tell cousin Eunice when I wrote ' muffs ' 
 instead of ' cuffs ' on the laundry list, nor when I 
 asked the porter to set the dress-suit case on the 
 ceiling instead of on the floor. Come, I think it 
 is time for the first class in Chateaux to be dis- 
 missed." 
 
 " Oh before you 've talked about Che 
 Che where Mary Stuart spent her honeymoon 
 with Francis Second ! " 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Edwina, smiling. " I knew 
 Chenonceaux was wonderfully romantic, but I 
 did n't know it could make you contemplate a 
 honeymoon with rapture. Have you forgotten 
 that Francis Second was a man ? " 
 
 " But he died," explained Eunice simply. 
 
 Edwina laughed at this, and Champion smiled 
 questioningly. 
 
 For a few days the young man was the compan- 
 ion of our travelers' excursions, and then they were 
 again left to themselves in the warm golden light 
 or the cold, cloudy breath of the Cannes winter. 
 Sunshine predominated, and they never tired of 
 wandering beside the tossing water with its curving 
 shores adorned by terrace on terrace, rich in semi- 
 tropical foliage and gleaming white villas, where
 
 REMINISCENCES 151 
 
 the air was sweet with orange blossoms, or driving 
 and climbing up the heights when all the land was 
 aglow with the delicate golden glory of the mimosa- 
 trees. They stood at the top of the CaKfornie 
 hill and looked afar on the surrounding country : 
 Grasse, Mougins, Nice, Monte Carlo, Mentone, 
 and the embracing semicircle of snow mountains 
 and terraced hills. They visited these spots also ; 
 saw the wilderness of violets at Grasse which were 
 to be crushed into perfume for my lady in many 
 lands, or candied to tempt her palate. They 
 strolled on the beach at Mentone, listened to the 
 wash of the pebbles under the sweeping tide at 
 Nice, and luxuriated in the beauty of Monte 
 Carlo, that spot where perhaps heaven and hell 
 meet more nearly than in any other on earth. 
 From the peacock water curling its dazzling snowy 
 foam about gray cliffs, to the exotic gardens on its 
 heights, every charm that nature can furnish and 
 man direct seems lavished with utter prodigality 
 on this siren of the southern sea. 
 
 The Riviera being the only locality on the Con- 
 tinent not visited during this winter by a daily 
 cold douche, Eunice and Edwina felt themselves 
 justified in continuing their lotus-eating existence 
 instead of attending to the duties of sight-seeing, 
 until other skies should cease to frown. They be- 
 came quite familiar with the Remicks, their neigh- 
 bors at the hotel table, and the Americans' uniform 
 enjoyment of life continued to be a matter of some 
 curiosity to the invalided man and his sister.
 
 152 MISS PEITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " You 'd best be careful of the mistral," Mr. 
 Remick curtly assured them one day when they 
 had come in from a visit to Golf Juan. 
 
 " It seems to me people have too much fear of 
 the mistral wind," replied Edwina. " What is 
 harmful about it ? " 
 
 " It 's loaded with fine particles of sand, very ir- 
 ritating to the throat and lungs." 
 
 " But yours are delicate, Edward," remarked 
 Miss Remick. 
 
 " So are everybody's," returned her brother, 
 with the sudden fierceness he frequently evinced 
 toward his willing slave. " Too delicate to take 
 in pieces of rock at every breath. That 's what it 
 amounts to rock." 
 
 " How vexing ! " said Miss Remick, vaguely 
 soothing. " Is n't it ? " appealing to Eunice. 
 " Cannes would really be very nice without the 
 mistral, would n't it ? " 
 
 " Perhaps we Americans are more used to wind," 
 replied Eunice. " I noticed in England how little 
 there was. It made the landscape fine to have 
 everything so still and clear." 
 
 " It 's beastly in England now," announced Mr. 
 Remick. He seldom while speaking regarded his 
 interlocutor, but oracularly addressed empty space. 
 
 " So vexing that one can't stay at home, is n't 
 it ? " purred his sister. 
 
 Edwina smiled brightly at her. " I should think 
 you would welcome a good excuse for coming to 
 Cannes."
 
 EEM1NISCENCES 153 
 
 " But we 've bean coining for several winters, 
 you know," apologetically, " and it gets tiresome, 
 does n't it?" 
 
 " You can go home to-morrow if you like," 
 growled the invalid. 
 
 " I only meant tiresome for you, Edward. I like 
 Cannes myself, don't you know." 
 
 " Well, so do I," shortly. 
 
 Eunice and Edwina were too accustomed now to 
 these and similar amenities to be much disturbed. 
 They had found that the ungracious speeches of 
 her brother were as much a familiar part of Miss 
 Remick's existence as her tightly curled fringe, 
 her heavy gold bracelets, enormous brooches, and 
 short skirts. 
 
 Edwina hastily raised her glass to her lips. She 
 just now happened to notice for the first time the 
 strange fitness of the cork in Mr. Remick's wine 
 bottle. It was a bear rampant. He had said he 
 liked Cannes. She recalled his figure as she often 
 caught sight of it at a distance on the Croisette, 
 seated on one of the palm-shaded benches under a 
 white umbrella, his haggard eyes looking out over 
 the rollicking waves breaking whitely on the islands 
 of St. Honorat and St. Marguerite. 
 
 They four had taken the boat together one day 
 for St. Honorat. The island is a gem, and the 
 wide view over the water of snow mountains against 
 deep blue, then the nearer hills with old picture- 
 towns nestling against their green sides, is wonder- 
 ful in its variety. There is a long thick avenue of
 
 154 MISS PEITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 cypresses on the island leading to the monastery 
 where brown-gowned monks sell one their delicious 
 cordial, and a forest of pine-trees growing with 
 no underbrush from the clean sweet grass gives 
 enchanting glimpses of the sea ; but all these vistas 
 had not moved Mr. Remick's stolidity by their 
 enchantment, nor had the dangerously rough trip 
 home been more effective. The waves plunged 
 over the deck of their little steamer, which dove 
 and clambered among the watery hills with such 
 abandon that the passengers could scarcely keep 
 their seats ; but Mr. Remick only scowled at the 
 running decks and gathered his feet into a dry 
 spot, while his stout sister clung to the cabin in 
 throes of illness, and when she could speak, gave 
 it as her opinion that the Mediterranean was 
 " really tiresome." 
 
 There had been during December a succession 
 of dark days, when it often rained, and the rest of 
 the time sulked. Cannes without the sunshine is 
 scarcely better than less favored localities, and Mr. 
 Remick, shivering in the damp cold that did not 
 discourage the roses, waxed bitterly sarcastic when 
 a sunless fortnight had passed. 
 
 " It 's going on like this all winter, I dare say," 
 he declared one night at dinner, looking over Ed- 
 wina's head. " But this is not real Cannes weather, 
 you understand, I hope ? Even though it 's like this 
 three seasons out of four, they '11 tell you here that 
 they can't understand it at all, that real Cannes 
 weather is superb, don't you know. When there
 
 REMINISCENCES 155 
 
 comes a fine day they '11 all triumph and cry out 
 that this is real Cannes weather. You don't see it 
 very often, but when you do that 's the kind it is. 
 It 's well to bear it in mind. Can you play the 
 piano ? " 
 
 The addition being made in the same harsh tone 
 that voiced his comments on the climate, Edwina 
 hesitated a moment before admitting that she 
 could. 
 
 " You 'd better come then and play on mine." 
 
 "Yes, yes," added Miss Kemick appealingly. 
 " It will make us forget how nasty it is outside, 
 won't it?" 
 
 Miss Pritchard after dinner told Edwina that she 
 would write a letter while the music was going on. 
 
 " You will let me venture alone into Brer B'ar's 
 den ? " exclaimed the girl. 
 
 " Oh, I think it will be safe, as our room is 
 so near. I will leave the door open so I can hear 
 any shrieks for help. I think you must have made 
 an impression on Brer B'ar." 
 
 " 1 don't much mind his growls now, but his 
 French will make me disgrace myself yet." When 
 he called Frangois this morning and told him Miss 
 Remick would take her breakfast upstairs I was 
 in almost as much misery as the poor waiter ! 
 Montez Madame cafe deez mineet n'est pas toud 
 suite. Demane chocolate.' Why he wanted to 
 explain to the poor fellow what she would take 
 to-morrow, I don't know ; and did you hear him 
 to-night ask for ' unn demmy bootle de vong'?"
 
 156 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " I 'm glad I don't know the difference," returned 
 Eunice, smiling in sympathy with the girl's laugh- 
 ter. " You have n't told me what the joke was to- 
 day when I spoke about the crematory and you 
 touched my foot." 
 
 " Oh, did n't you understand ? He thought you 
 were talking about a dairy, and he broke in and 
 said there was one right around the corner, and 
 that they called them ' lattery ' in France. And 
 Miss Remick is just as bad. Did you hear her 
 * Mairsy infinimong ' ? She always says ' Mairsy,' 
 and he says ' Marsy.' She consoled me the other 
 day when I was regretting that we must travel in 
 Italy without any knowledge of the language. She 
 said she never had any trouble at the stations. 
 She just turned up the tail of a French word, and 
 they understood her perfectly. My! That gave 
 me a reverence for the Italian intellect ! " 
 
 " Go along, Ned. I 'm sure those people are 
 waiting for you." 
 
 They were, and Edwina had a surprise in dis- 
 covering that music developed the nearest approach 
 to pleasure that she had ever seen in Mr. Remick's 
 tired countenance. 
 
 Miss Pritchard, busy with a letter to her lawyer, 
 heard the lively strains and the murmur of voices 
 alternately ; and before long was conscious of a 
 knock at the Remicks' door as the servant carried 
 in the coffee tray. Five minutes later out of the 
 stillness she heard the old gentleman's voice raised 
 in a stentorian accent of ferocity :
 
 REMINISCENCES 157 
 
 " She likes it weak ! " 
 
 Eunice laughed quietly. Her suspicions were 
 verified shortly by the entrance of Edwina, red- 
 faced from suppressed mirth, bearing a cup of 
 coffee. As soon as the girl was able she spoke 
 with cheerful loudness. 
 
 " Miss Remick is afraid this is n't strong enough 
 for you, but Mr. Remick has fixed it the way he 
 thinks you like it. They would be glad to have 
 you join us." Then she fell into pantomime which 
 caused Eunice to choke over her coffee and frown 
 and shake her head. They shortly repaired to- 
 gether to the next room, where Mr. Remick was 
 just setting down his cup. 
 
 " We 're going to sing ' God save the Queen,' ' 
 he announced. 
 
 " Dear me ! " said Miss Pritchard. " I 'm afraid 
 I shan't be much help. I don't know the words." 
 
 " Ow ! I '11 give them out verse by verse," he 
 replied, and suited the action to the word; his 
 rasping voice rising with peculiar relish at 
 
 " Confound their politics ! 
 Frustrate their knavish tricks ! " 
 
 They sang, all four, to the best of their ability, 
 and Edwina filled in discrepancies with a full and 
 harmonious accompaniment. 
 
 " We thank you, Miss Wilder," said the host 
 when at last the guests rose to go. 
 
 " Edward is so musical," murmured his sister. 
 
 " Humph ! " grunted her brother in a tone that 
 warned her.
 
 158 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Did you try the Petty Parry for your errands ? " 
 asked Miss Remick hastily. 
 
 "Yes. We were much obliged to you for re- 
 commending it." 
 
 " It 's not so dear as most of the shops, is it ? 
 quite different to those in the Rue d'Antibes, 
 really." 
 
 " We liked it very well ; but poor cousin Eu- 
 nice has n't much opinion of shopping in France. 
 When she found that even at such a little shop as 
 the Petit Paris she could n't get a paper of pins 
 or a spool of thread, she was disgusted. She has 
 found out at last that only at a Mercerie can she 
 get those notions ; so now when she wants hooks 
 and eyes or anything of the sort she asks me with 
 scorn : ' Is there ^Misery anywhere around here ? ' ' 
 
 " I should think they were miseries," said Eu- 
 nice. " In one where we were yesterday they asked 
 Edwina if we wanted one row of pins or two ! They 
 never thought of our taking the whole paper." 
 
 " Fancy ! " said Miss Remick. 
 
 " And then cousin Eunice can't remember the 
 difference between a metre and a litre, and she is 
 always asking me to buy her a litre of ribbon or 
 elastic." 
 
 " Only fancy ! " said Miss Remick. 
 
 " That time in Paris, do you remember, cousin 
 Eunice, when you went out alone to buy a cake of 
 soap ? " Edwina turned to Miss Remick. " I 
 taught her to say savon llanc, and she succeeded 
 in buying the soap ; but when she came home she
 
 REMINISCENCES 159 
 
 said she had seen the stupidest man in Paris ; that 
 the soap she wanted was marked sixty centimes, 
 and that she had said sixty to the man, and he 
 only looked perfectly blank. I explained that he 
 did n't understand ' sixty,' but she could n't see 
 the trouble at all, for she kept on explaining that 
 there were the figures 6 0, just the same as they 
 would have been at home, and why should that 
 clerk not have understood when she said ' sixty ' ? " 
 
 From the expression of Miss Remick's face it 
 was evident that the situation was one she would 
 have to reflect upon, but she responded gravely : 
 41 Fancy ! " 
 
 Mr. Remick said that it certainly must be a 
 great inconvenience not to speak French, and Eu- 
 nice admitted that it was. 
 
 " I shall learn it before I take my next wedding 
 trip," she added demurely. 
 
 " Eh ? Really ! " said Mr. Remick. 
 
 After his guests had said good-night and de- 
 parted he addressed his sister. 
 
 " My word ! That was an extraordinary speech 
 of Miss Pritchard's, eh ? I never thought she was 
 touched. Eh ? " 
 
 " Not more than all Americans, Edward. I 
 don't mind asking her what she meant, if you 
 like." 
 
 " Ow ! it does n't matter." 
 
 A few days after this Miss Remick requested 
 Eunice and Edwina to write a couple of sentiments 
 in her autograph album. The weather, after a
 
 160 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 brief relaxing into gracious golden summer, had 
 again relapsed into a last fit of the sulks, its clouds 
 being reflected in each line of Mr. Remick's face ; 
 and with the attempt to flatter his humor, Edwina 
 wrote amid the flowery and chaste quotations of 
 Miss Remick's other friends, the following lines : 
 
 When sullen clouds for weeks on end 
 
 O'erhang the Cote d'Azur, 
 'T is then the old inhabitant 
 
 Makes haste to reassure, 
 Though beating rain depress your soul, 
 
 And mistral chill your spine, 
 Just keep firm hold upon one fact 
 
 The real Cannes weather 's fine ! 
 
 What though a keen and nipping wind 
 
 Makes noses rosy bright, 
 And fingers tingle in an air 
 
 The sun 's forgotten quite ? 
 Just stamp your feet and swing your arms, 
 
 Be patient, don't repine, 
 You '11 get a sample some spring day, 
 
 And real Cannes weather 's fine ! 
 
 This effusion attained a success beyond its au- 
 thor's wildest expectations. Mr. Remick, when 
 next he greeted Edwiiia, regarded her eye to eye, 
 and a sardonic smile widened his thin lips. 
 
 " You '11 get a sahmple some spring day," he 
 quoted. "Ha! My word ! That 's about it." 
 
 " Dear me," said Eunice later, " you will be 
 leading Brer B'ar with a blue ribbon yet." 
 
 " Don't be too sure of that. Yesterday he 
 snubbed me well. I asked him if they spoke French 
 in Ventimiglia. ' Why should they ? ' he demanded
 
 REMINISCENCES 161 
 
 in his usual urbane accents. I meekly answered 
 that being just over the line, I had had hopes of it 
 it would make passing through the customs so 
 much easier. ' Humph ! ' he growled. * You might 
 as well expect them to speak Italian in Mentone 
 for the same reason.' One thing is certain, cousin 
 Eunice, you have met one man who is not a whited 
 sepulchre. I suppose they are all like this in- 
 side?" 
 
 " They vary," returned Eunice. 
 
 " You '11 tell me when we meet one who has re- 
 deeming features, won't you ? Since I notice that 
 each time one of Mr. Glenn's letters comes, you 
 behave as if he were a ravening wolf threatening 
 your ewe-lamb, I despair of pleasing you." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's quick eyes searched the girl's 
 baffling ones. " You can't believe one of them, 
 Ned. You cannot, dear," she said earnestly. 
 
 " Oh, yes," answered Edwina, laughing. " You 
 forget Mr. Eemick. He never deceives anybody."
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE CARNIVAL 
 
 EUNICE was greatly pleased with the Battle of 
 Flowers which took place early in February on the 
 Croisette. The carriages vied with each other in 
 floral decorations. Every wheel was a wreath of 
 dainty blossoms ; ferns and flowers enameled the 
 harness of the high-stepping horses and embowered 
 the occupants of the vehicles who in gala array 
 pelted with roses, violets, and chrysanthemums 
 those who passed them in the gay procession or on 
 the promenades. A beautifully blue sea murmured 
 on the sands, the Esterels seemed to come nearer 
 in their freedom from haze, the lively strains of a 
 band added gayety to the scene. 
 
 " I suppose you have been looking at the pretty 
 sight to-day, Miss Remick," said Eunice that even- 
 ing when the four were at dinner. 
 
 The English lady's eyebrows were raised in a 
 gentle suggestion of injury. " We 'd not a very 
 good place to see," she replied. "Me brother's 
 not very keen for diversion, are you, Edward ? " 
 
 Mr. Remick uttered a low, inarticulate growl. 
 " Depends on what you call diversion. Men and 
 women throwing flowers at each other's heads, and
 
 THE CAENIVAL 168 
 
 horses trampling them in the dirt, does n't appeal 
 to me particularly." 
 
 " Ah, but the horses did n't have a chance very 
 often. They did n't touch this," and Edwina in- 
 dicated a large bunch of violets on her breast. 
 
 " Was that thrown you ? " asked Miss Remick 
 enviously. 
 
 " Yes. An officer in one of the carriages took 
 off his hat with a flourish and sent this spinning 
 at me." 
 
 " Humph ! Beastly impertinent of him," com- 
 mented Mr. Remick, " and I dare say you liked 
 it." 
 
 " Indeed I did," laughed Edwina. " I had begun 
 to long for some of the pretty things flying through 
 the air." 
 
 " You 've one too," said Miss Remick, sombrely 
 regarding a big chrysanthemum gleaming like pre- 
 served sunshine in the front of Miss Pritchard's 
 black gown. 
 
 " Yes. This is Edwina's bounty." 
 
 " Booty, you mean. Cousin Eunice would n't 
 jump up for them, so when they came aimed at us, 
 of course I caught them all. I have more upstairs, 
 Miss Remick, if you will accept them." 
 
 " It 's too bad," said Miss Pritchard afterward. 
 *' Nothing ever turns out right for that poor wo- 
 man. I suppose we ought to take her around with 
 us sometimes." 
 
 " I suppose so," agreed Edwina. " Just think 
 what it would bo to have Brer B'ar for one's sole
 
 164 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 companion, and then to be so stout as to be un- 
 comfortable ! I noticed Miss Remick never went 
 out if it rained, and I asked her yesterday why it 
 was, and she said that she could n't abide goloshes 
 and that after she got her stays on she could n't 
 change her shoes ; so she must n't risk wetting her 
 feet." 
 
 " We ought not to laugh," said Eunice con- 
 tritely. 
 
 " Why not ? I'm sure they laugh at us, and 
 they 're quite welcome. We '11 take her shopping 
 with us to the ' Petty Parry ' if she feels poor, or 
 to the sweller shops when she feels rich. We '11 
 be good to her." 
 
 There came an opportunity to test their charity 
 a few weeks later when King Carnival's reign be- 
 gan. Indeed, poor Miss Remick threw out a hint. 
 
 " Are you going to buy seats in the Tribune to 
 see the Carnival ? " she asked. " I 'm always very 
 keen to see it, but me brother does n't care. It 's 
 a pity, is n't it ? There 's so little to do in Cannes." 
 
 Edwina sighed involuntarily over this difference 
 in point of view. Only yesterday as she and Miss 
 Pritchard had been sauntering through a grove of 
 pines where the black-caps were pouring forth their 
 heartfelt liquid melody, she had been speaking of 
 the embarrassment of riches held out by this strip 
 of flower-strewn country. However, what would 
 it be without congenial companionship ? She in- 
 stantly repented of her momentary impatience as 
 Mr. Remick turned upon his sister.
 
 THE CARNIVAL 165 
 
 " If you 're dull, why don't you go to the ceme- 
 tery ? " he demanded. 
 
 " The cemetery ! The cemetery 's quite different 
 to the Carnival, is n't it, Edward? " 
 
 " It 's by far the prettiest place in Cannes, with 
 one of the best views on the Riviera. Why don't 
 you go there ? " 
 
 " I 've bean once this season, Edward." 
 
 " Humph ! I 've bean a dozen times, I dare 
 say." 
 
 " But it 's all the way uphill, and you 're not so 
 stout as I am, are you ? " 
 
 " My word ! You would n't be so stout if you 'd 
 go there oftener." 
 
 " But the cemetery does n't cheer me as it does 
 you, Edward. It makes me quite low ; and then 
 I 'm always quite blown by the time I get there. 
 Even you," pacifically, " must admit that the Car- 
 nival would seem more lively to most people." 
 
 Mr. Remick happened to catch Edwina's eye, 
 and she thought he almost smiled. 
 
 " At any rate," said Miss Pritchard hastily, " I 
 hope you will go with us to the Carnival, Miss 
 Remick." 
 
 " Get seats in the Tribune up by the Alices," dic- 
 tated Mr. Remick unexpectedly. " That is near 
 the spot where the prizes are awarded, and most of 
 the torn-foolery goes on." 
 
 " Very well, we will. Edwina shall get us three 
 tickets to-morrow." 
 
 "You'd better let me get them," said Mr. Rem-
 
 166 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ick. " You 'd probably get the back row instead 
 of the front one, or make some other blunder. It 
 takes a person familiar with the language to get 
 along with these fellows." 
 
 Miss Remick's broad face was wreathed in 
 smiles. " How thoughtful of you, dear Edward ! " 
 she ejaculated. " I do hope the day will be fine." 
 
 She was still full of anticipation when the morn- 
 ing of Mardi Gras arrived, and on the way to their 
 reserved chairs in the covered stand she showed 
 her two companions where to buy the bags of con- 
 fetti with which each member of the restless, gay 
 crowd of spectators was armed. 
 
 " Ah, but these seats are fine ! " ejaculated Miss 
 Remick with satisfaction, when they had found 
 their places. " Nothing will escape us here." 
 
 " And we shall escape nothing," laughed Ed- 
 wina, as a bunch of paper confetti stung her fore- 
 head, and she shook the tiny colored disks from 
 her hair. " We 're shining marks here in these 
 front seats." 
 
 " Keep it ready in your hand, me dear, and let 
 them have it again. Ah," with a sigh, " what a 
 pity me brother cares nothing for such gay scenes, 
 is n't it ? He can't abide a crowd, and I dare say 
 while we 're so lively he is walking out to Le 
 Cannet or up to the cemetery. I should have bean 
 quite dull here by meself, I 'm sure." 
 
 " We 're very glad to have you with us," said 
 Miss Pritchard. " How the crowd is thicken- 
 ing !"
 
 THE CARNIVAL 167 
 
 " It '11 not be long now," said Miss Remick, with 
 relish. " The procession went along the Croisette 
 on Sunday, I hear, and there was great gayety. 
 The French are not a God-fearing people. I see 
 him, I see him, 't is King Carnival ! " Her 
 voice was lost in the cheers that rang along the 
 serried ranks on the roadside as the huge monarch 
 of the day came in sight, gorgeous in green velvet 
 and gold, and mounted on a colossal snail. His 
 crowned head was level with the tops of the palms, 
 and nodded smilingly upon his subjects, while his 
 hand frequently rose and fell in recognition and 
 blessing. 
 
 While the eyes of the trio were fixed upon him, 
 and eagerly looking back at his grotesque follow- 
 ing, a tall thin figure with broad-rimmed hat 
 stepped into the vacant seat beside Edwina. Great 
 was her surprise when she turned, to observe Mr. 
 Remick standing beside her, regarding the motley 
 show with dull eyes. 
 
 " I thought you would n't know enough to get 
 any serpentines," he remarked in reply to the girl's 
 exclamation, and he took from a paper bag a nun; 
 ber of what looked like bolts of narrow ribbon. 
 " You don't know how to use them, I dare say." 
 
 " I have n't an idea," replied Edwina. 
 
 A float was just passing labeled " Le Monde" 
 and containing a native of every clime. Mr. Rem- 
 ick deftly seized the end of one of the paper rolls, 
 and with a throw and a jerk made it describe a 
 long, graceful arc and land on the shoulder of an
 
 168 MISS PEITCHARWS WEDDING TEIP 
 
 American Indian, who flourished his tomahawk 
 and skipped with volatile gayety. 
 
 " How pretty ! " said the girl appreciatively. 
 " Do teach me how." 
 
 " Edward why, Edward ! " ejaculated Miss 
 Remick with ponderous surprise, winking her eyes 
 as if to dispel a vision. " You 're never here at 
 the Carnival, Edward ! " 
 
 " Why should n't I be ? It 's a free country, I 
 dare say." 
 
 " I 'm so glad but oh, when somebody comes 
 and claims that seat, it will be so tiresome, won't 
 it ? Can't you buy them off, Edward ? It would 
 be a pity when we 're all so comfortable, would n't 
 it, and one person alone bless me ! " Miss 
 Remick's speech was suddenly muffled, and she 
 jumped and began spitting out confetti. " I wish 
 I 'd seen that wretch," she continued when she 
 could speak, plunging her hand in her bag and 
 preparing to revenge the next assault. 
 
 " See the paper dolls," cried Miss Pritchard, as 
 an overgrown company marked " Les enfants du 
 carnival " skipped into view. 
 
 Next appeared a pretty group of harlequins and 
 columbines dancing along to their own music. A 
 bicycle ridden upside down by a man whose hair 
 trailed in the dust, peripatetic stoves, sausages and 
 vegetables, many species of animals, and an innu- 
 merable variety of masks and dominoes enlivened 
 the procession of floats, while a gigantic headless 
 figure, lantern in hand, trudged along turning
 
 THE CARNIVAL 169 
 
 from side to side and bearing the placard, "A la 
 cherche de ma tete" while the enormous head he 
 sought hung bobbing on his back. 
 
 " What fools these mortals be ! " said Mr. Rem- 
 ick ; but he kept Edwina supplied with serpentines, 
 and leaned over the rail to buy more confetti when 
 hers was gone. She tried to make him throw some ; 
 but this he declined to do, brushing the stuff from 
 his beard and coat collar when attacked, his ex- 
 pression of cold endurance unchanged. 
 
 The procession passed four times, and wilder 
 and wilder grew the mirth. The pretty disks filled 
 the sunlit air like spray from a fountain in the 
 brisk pelting, and Edwina's hat and shoulders 
 looked as if she had been caught in a rainbow 
 storm. Her cheeks were red from her vigorous 
 exertions, as she smiled up at Mr. Remick, when 
 the last marcher had passed and the crowd of 
 spectators began to flow through the streets. 
 
 " Would you believe anything so silly could be 
 so much fun ? " she asked. 
 
 " Ow it 's fun, is it ? " he said grimly. " It 's 
 silly enough." 
 
 " Great fun, and I 'm so glad you decided to 
 come and bring the serpentines. Did you see how 
 well I could aim at last ? " 
 
 " My word ! You did." 
 
 Miss Remick was brushing herself. " I can't 
 think, Edward, how it is that nobody claimed that 
 seat," she said, as they started homeward. " Really 
 most extraordinary, was n't it, Miss Pritchard ?
 
 170 MISS PRITCHARVS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Such a crowd, and every other seat taken, and just 
 happening to be next ours. It was most fortu- 
 nate, I must say." 
 
 Eunice admitted that the fact was extraordinary, 
 and Mr. Remick's wooden countenance moved not 
 a muscle. 
 
 " If only dear Edward would come with us this 
 evening," whispered Miss Remick, as she and 
 Eunice followed the others. " It is most amusing 
 here in the Alices. They hang the trees with 
 Japanese lanterns and have music and dancing, 
 and the maskers talk to one, and they have fine 
 fireworks, and end up with the burning of King 
 Carnival. Oh, 't is a great bonfire he makes. It 
 quite gives one a turn to see him, smiling through 
 the flames with his hand upraised. When it drops 
 and his head droops, it makes your flesh creep, 
 it does, indeed. Ah, I wish me brother would 
 bring us. It 's so fine and warm, I 'm certain it 
 would n't hurt his tubes." 
 
 " You might get Edwina to ask him," suggested 
 Eunice. " He seems to take a kind interest in 
 amusing her." 
 
 Miss Remick received this suggestion eagerly, 
 and drawing Edwina aside before dinner, with 
 many a wink and caution, she proposed her plan. 
 The girl nodded. 
 
 " I want very much to go to-night," she an- 
 swered. 
 
 " Me brother 's sure to refuse, if I ask him." 
 
 "Well, we'll see," said Edwina vaguely.
 
 THE CARNIVAL 171 
 
 At dinner, then, after waiting, with a wisdom 
 beyond her years, until a couple of courses had 
 replenished Mr. Remick's inner man, she spoke. 
 
 " How would you like to go to the Alices to- 
 night to see the dancing, cousin Eunice ? " 
 
 " Excuse me, dear, if you can. I did n't know 
 how tired I was. I 'm dizzy with monsters and 
 the French language and dodging confetti." 
 
 " Very well. Miss Remick would like to go. 
 She said so. Mr. Remick," deferentially, " it 
 would be quite proper for your sister to chaperone 
 me, would n't it ? " 
 
 " I should think you 'd had enough Carnival for 
 one day." 
 
 " I have n't, and the sun will be safely set, so 
 the air will be nice and dry, and it is so near, we 
 can easily run home any minute we want to." 
 
 "Humph!" 
 
 " May we ? " pursued Edwina, turning the full 
 attraction of her eyes and smile on the haggard 
 parchment face. 
 
 " I suppose no one can prevent you." 
 
 " Oh, yes, indeed. You can. Only I 'm so 
 curious about it." 
 
 " Of course you are. You 're nothing but Eves, 
 all of you. Forever curious about something." 
 
 " That is what makes us so interesting. We 
 have something to talk about, you see." 
 
 "Talk about? Eh? My word! I should 
 think so ! That 's why I 'd never tie myself by 
 the leg to a woman."
 
 172 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TBIP 
 
 Meanwhile the woman who was tied to him 
 looked anxiously from Edwina to her brother. 
 The girl was not in the least carrying out instruc- 
 tions. Miss Remick's face grew blank when her 
 sister-conspirator nodded at her brightly. 
 
 " He '11 let us go, you see." 
 
 " I don't know that we can go quite alone, can 
 we ? " she said dejectedly. 
 
 " Oh, Mr. Remick knows best about that. Dear 
 me, how tired I am of veal ! Yes, I know it is 
 very good ; but I never can look a calf in the face 
 again we 've eaten such droves of them in the 
 past six months." 
 
 " Old joke, Ned," said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 "Yes, antique; but old jokes are better than 
 none under some circumstances. Talk, cousin 
 Eunice. Keep up the reputation Mr. Remick 
 gives our sex." 
 
 Between them they monopolized the conversa- 
 tion until dinner was over. Miss Remick contin- 
 ued to look doubtful and glum. She had an idea 
 that the evening company would be roistering, and 
 she was just about to thwart Edwina's well-laid 
 plans by timidly urging her brother, when he ad- 
 dressed the girl in his usual disapproving manner. 
 
 " What time do you wish to set off on this wild- 
 goose chase ? " 
 
 " I should think in half an hour at latest," she 
 replied sweetly. " Now, don't feel one bit obliged 
 to come. We '11 promise not to dance with any- 
 body ! "
 
 THE CAEN IV AL 173 
 
 " I shall go if you 're determined on the foolish- 
 ness ! " 
 
 " Dear Edward, how kind of you, I 'm sure ! " 
 ejaculated his sister. 
 
 It was a balmy February evening, and no breeze 
 swayed the gay lanterns above their heads as the 
 three, leaving the darkened and deserted street 
 leading from the hotel, entered the Allees of plane- 
 trees and made their way through an ever-changing, 
 ever-moving crowd of masks and dominoes. The 
 battle of confetti continued with unabated vigor, 
 and Miss Reruick and Edwina, being without 
 masks, were glad of their veils as partial protec- 
 tion. Mr. Remick walked between them, and ex- 
 cept for the necessary motion of the legs, was as 
 inanimate as a bronze. Before his face he held 
 a large palm-leaf fan, and the side-view which 
 Edwina obtained of his down-drawn lips and the 
 long curved nose touching the fan indicated the 
 endurance of the stoic amid the inconsequent folly 
 around him. Whenever Edwina paused he did so 
 with instant obedience, never regarding the where- 
 fore, until she again offered to move on, when he 
 walked blindly as before. 
 
 Miss Remick's tongue flew excitedly. " See that 
 great ape, Miss Wilder ! Whatever has he got on 
 his head ? Oh, I shall have a fit if he comes near 
 me ! Here comes a whole line of them skipping. 
 Ah, Edward, we shall be run down ! " and the 
 stout lady pulled on her brother's arm in a panic. 
 
 "Go on ! " he shouted into the fan, anchored in
 
 174 MISS PKITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 spite of himself by the dead weight. The rollick- 
 ing maskers, being opposed by the trio, paused in 
 their onslaught and began dancing up and down 
 before Miss Remick, laughing and chanting over 
 and over, " La taillefine, Id taillejine.'"' 
 
 " What are they at now ? " cried Miss Remick. 
 
 " Commenting on your slender shape, that 's 
 all," returned her brother without lowering his 
 fan. " They '11 give over in a minute." 
 
 Edwina laughed irrepressibly. " Everything 
 goes at carnival time," she said, and in a minute 
 the singers broke their circle and ran on, and Mr. 
 Remick resumed his stolid march. 
 
 " Dear me, I wish I were masked," cried Ed- 
 wina. She had been addressed a number of times 
 in passing and had thrown back a word of greet- 
 ing. " One feels at such a stupid disadvantage 
 this way." 
 
 They were approaching a space cleared for dan- 
 cing, and a handsomely dressed harlequin, whose 
 turquoise blue and silver gleamed in the arc lights, 
 ran lightly toward her, the confetti he threw 
 breaking in gold, green, and purple upon her 
 breast. 
 
 "Si je ri 'avals qu'une rose, Mademoiselle ! 
 Vous me connaissez, rfest ce pas ? Je vous ai vu 
 souvent dans la rue d'Antibes." 
 
 " No, I think not." 
 
 " Ah, you prefare ze English. I spik it too. I 
 do many faults, I know, but I make myself under- 
 stand. You will perhaps honaire me wiz a dance ? "
 
 THE CARNIVAL 175 
 
 The band was playing a waltz. Mr. Remick 
 stood immobile, with shaded face, remote from the 
 turmoil within a few feet of him. He felt Ed- 
 wina's hand twitch with surprise where it lay in 
 his arm. 
 
 " No, I thank you. Oh, no," she said hastily. 
 
 " Then I mek a little promenade wiz you ? " 
 suggested the harlequin. 
 
 "Allez-vous ong ! " roared Mr. Remick into his 
 fan. 
 
 The harlequin laughed and his bells jingled. 
 " Ah, ze mad gentleman he do not permeet. He- 
 las, Mademoiselle ! Au revoir ! " and with a 
 light skip and a mischievous side-throw of confetti 
 behind the shield of Edwina's escort, he vanished. 
 
 Mr. Remick brushed the paper from his eyes 
 and whiskers with deliberate composure, spit out a 
 few disks, and passively moved on. Edwina now 
 expected some bitter comment and suggestion as 
 to returning home ; but none came. Indeed, her 
 escort was as ready as before to stop at the slight- 
 est hint, to wait dumbly while his sister and her 
 friend wondered, and laughed, and chattered. 
 
 When they finally found a good place to observe 
 the fireworks and the conflagration of gigantic, 
 benevolent King Carnival, Mr. Remick lowered 
 his fan, crossed his arms in front of him, and 
 waited. Edwina could not observe that he re- 
 marked the rockets and bombs. His countenance 
 never changed. Only when the sheets of flame 
 enveloped the crowned king, he regarded the smil- 
 ing face drearily.
 
 176 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Rather uncanny that," he said. 
 
 " Ugh ! When the poor thing' drops, it looks 
 barbarous, does n't it ? " responded his sister. 
 
 The three returned, two of them weary and 
 happy, to the hotel, their clothing gay with con- 
 fetti. 
 
 " I '11 play to you a lot for this, Mr. Remick," 
 said Edwina gratefully, when they were parting in 
 the corridor. " I appreciate your kindness, for I 
 know how you have been bored." 
 
 " Don't mention it," monotonously. " I should 
 have been quite as much bored in bed, I dare say." 
 
 The girl gave him a little mischievous nod. 
 " I 'm learning to know you quite well. You can't 
 deceive me any more." 
 
 "Eh? What?" Mr. Remick's thin lips parted, 
 and he looked around at his sister to see if she had 
 heard. " My word ! A most extraordinary young 
 person ! " He looked back, but Edwina had disao- 
 peared.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ROME 
 
 THE next morning the men with wagons and 
 shovels came to bear off the heaps of confetti that 
 piled the sides of the streets, and no other sign was 
 left of yesterday's frolic save the ill-temper of its 
 weary participants. 
 
 One pair of marchers in the carnival procession 
 had remained in Miss Pritchard's mind. They 
 consisted of a cardboard giant and a little girl of 
 seven or eight years, the pair being labeled, " Les 
 extremes se touchcnt." The little child's face as 
 she trudged past the stand for the fourth time 
 showed that she was finding a carnival a serious 
 affair, and Miss Pritchard hoped she was as lively 
 to-day as when yesterday opened. 
 
 Spring was coming on, and though floral nature 
 on the Riviera was taking as fresh a start as if it 
 had reposed all winter under northern snows, our 
 travelers knew they must not be lured to remain. 
 
 " I can't think whatever we shall do without 
 you," said Miss Remick, when they announced the 
 date of their departure. 
 
 " We shall likely meet again," said Mr. Rem- 
 ick, addressing space. " I dare say my sister will
 
 178 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 give me no peace unless she travels before we go 
 home." 
 
 " I hope we may meet, then," returned Miss 
 Pritchard kindly. 
 
 " There 's never any telling, is there ? " said Miss 
 Remick wistfully. 
 
 The following day Edwina, coming suddenly 
 into Miss Pritchard's room, was astonished to see 
 the latter start and unquestionably conceal a letter 
 upon which she had been engaged. The girl made 
 no comment, however. 
 
 " I 've just received word from the Hamburg- 
 American people," she announced. " Our passage 
 is secured on the Patricia for August twenty- 
 sixth. I 'm going to take my book and go out 
 awhile. Do you want to come ? " 
 
 " I believe I won't, this afternoon, Ned." Miss 
 Pritchard's delicate cheeks were pink with the 
 color which still rose in them so easily. " We 
 were out so long this morning, and " 
 
 " Oh, no excuses are necessary," said Edwina 
 airily. 
 
 " I was n't making excuses, my dear." 
 
 " Of course not just explanations. Well, 
 you won't be lonely if I go ? " 
 
 " Oh, don't think of me at all," earnestly. " Just 
 go and stay as long as you like. When I finish 
 my when I get dressed, I mean I '11 take my 
 book out on the terrace until you come." 
 
 " All right ; " Edwina kissed her, smiling. " Give 
 my love to Miranda, won't you, if you decide to 
 write a letter."
 
 ROME 179 
 
 " I think I shall write her this afternoon," said 
 Miss Pritchard. " It will be a good chance while 
 I 'm by myself." 
 
 " Ah, you 're glad to be rid of me ! There, 
 you 're looking guilty this minute, little Eunice. 
 What are you meditating ? I think I don't dare 
 go unless I get Miss Remick to come and chap- 
 erone you." 
 
 " Go along, Ned Wilder, you tiresome child ! " 
 " ' Tarsome,' you mean. Good-by. Be good." 
 Edwina left the house and took her way to a 
 hotel garden which always allured her. Passing 
 in under its spreading pines and palms, she saun- 
 tered among roses, japouicas, and cacti toward a 
 hillside down which poured a brooklet in tiny cas- 
 cades. A lifelike Red Riding Hood stood on one 
 of its banks, regarding the crafty wolf which 
 paused opposite with uplifted paw and panting 
 jaws. 
 
 At a little distance a fountain rose from a wide 
 basin of gold-fish, near which a gnome with snowy 
 beard sat patiently fishing as he smoked his com- 
 forting pipe. Edwina seated herself and looked 
 up longingly for the birds which belonged in this 
 home of her childhood's fairy tales. Alas ! the 
 French care only for thrushes, larks, and nightin- 
 gales in order to eat them. Edwina always ig- 
 nored the bird course at dinner. The thought of 
 the songs hushed in those tiny throats brought a 
 lump to her own. She opened her book ; but it 
 lay iu her lap while she smiled at the gnome 
 watching his line so assiduously.
 
 180 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " It may be Mr. Glenn," she mused. " She may 
 be asking him to write to some other girl only I 
 know she is n't. That is why she asked me so 
 particularly this morning just what day we should 
 arrive in Rome." 
 
 She picked up her book with determination and 
 tried to read. After a minute her fingers relaxed 
 their hold and again it slowly fell back into her 
 lap. " Now she can add when we are going home, 
 and by what ship," she mused. Her lips grew 
 grave ; the novel was not resumed. Her clear eyes 
 gazed at the lacy foliage of a mimosa as if it were 
 whispering something to her. For long she sat 
 there, finding " tongues in trees, books in the run- 
 ning brooks," and what she read therein held her 
 unconscious of the flight of time. 
 
 She played that evening to Mr. Remick until a 
 late hour. Poor old man ! She half disliked part- 
 ing from him. 
 
 When finally the last morning arrived and 
 adieux were to be said, his dry, bony hand gave 
 hers one galvanic shake. " You '11 let us hear from 
 you, I dare say," he remarked to the omnibus into 
 which the girl was about to mount. 
 
 " That they will, I 'm sure," said Miss Remick, 
 who was looking tearfully at Eunice where she 
 smiled a farewell from the window. 
 
 " Yes, we must meet again," said Edwiua cheer- 
 ily. The 'bus door slammed, the horses started. 
 The Americans looked back at the stout lady, who 
 touched her eyes with a handkerchief before wav-
 
 ROME 181 
 
 ing it, and at the tall thin figure motionless beside 
 her, his arms crossed before him. They waved, 
 the road wound, and trees shut off the view. 
 
 " End of another chapter," said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " And probably the most interesting." 
 
 " Not if we succeed in seeing the Pope," replied 
 Eunice promptly. 
 
 " You 've spoken of that so often, lately, cousin 
 Eunice. Of course I should like to see him, but 
 I don't understand your craze on the subject." 
 
 " I don't know that I understand it myself. I 
 only know that I would rather see him than any 
 other sovereign in the world ; and this being the 
 Jubilee year, he will hold so many receptions, we 
 may accomplish it." 
 
 Edwina shook her head. " Every one says we 
 can't without influence. Why did n't you think 
 of it before we left home ? We might have 
 secured some letters." 
 
 " As if I could think of anything before we left 
 home ! Did you ahem ! did you happen to 
 hear what Mr. Champion said about it ? " 
 
 "No, I did n't." 
 
 The omnibus clattered several minutes before 
 Eunice continued : " He said that he had some 
 influential Catholic friends in Home." 
 
 " Indeed. Why did n't you ask him for letters ? " 
 
 " I did n't he thought he said well, of 
 course you know, we might meet him there 
 we Ve had such amazing meetings." 
 
 They had now reached the station, once so alien,
 
 182 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 now so familiar, and Edwina did not need to reply. 
 The much dreaded customs at Ventimile proved 
 to be only tedious, and nothing of note except the 
 beauty of the scenery marked this entrance into 
 Italy. 
 
 The travelers stopped for two nights at Genoa 
 aud viewed the palaces, churches, and the marvel- 
 ous Campo Santo with its massive marble colon- 
 nades, which Mr. Remick, as authority on ceme- 
 teries, had warned them not to miss. 
 
 The beautiful ride to Pisa had every charm of 
 peacock sea, green terrace, and snowy Alp. The 
 train played hide-and-seek with the bewitching 
 scenery by means of many tunnels, whose fre- 
 quency gave opportunity to a stout Italian woman 
 in the carriage to take snuff. She was arrayed in 
 a blue watteau wrapper and had a dark plaid 
 handkerchief which she was always in the act of 
 using as they emerged from tunnels, and which on 
 reaching the light she hastily and surreptitiously 
 tucked behind her. She constituted herself host- 
 ess to every one who entered the carriage, did many 
 little kindnesses, talked volubly in French to Ed- 
 wina, inquiring her plans and assuring her that 
 she knew her hat came from Nice, and was alto- 
 gether a most self-possessed and complacent per- 
 sonage. When they neared Pisa there occurred an 
 astonishing transformation in this traveler. She 
 donned a fawn-colored ulster over the wrapper, 
 assumed a large hat with sweeping plumes, pulled 
 light gloves over her fat hands, and in place of the
 
 ROME 183 
 
 vanished bandanna a snowy kerchief was in evi- 
 dence. Eunice and Edwina exchanged a look. 
 They could hardly believe in this handsome wo- 
 man's identity. 
 
 At Pisa they spent a bell-ringing night by the 
 thick, swift Arno, and in the morning drove out 
 to where on a spacious, smooth, daisy-strewn lawn 
 the tower and cathedral await the visitor. They 
 climbed the slanting staircase of the one and wan- 
 dered about among the church's treasures ; but 
 their greatest pleasure was in the baptistery, whose 
 mysterious echo turns the isolated tones uttered 
 by one man into a choir of angel voices. 
 
 It was very late that night when the travelers 
 reached Rome, and the next day they repaired to 
 a pension of Champion's recommending, situated 
 near the Borghese Gardens. The sky looked as if 
 it could never have been clouded. Their rooms 
 had a balcony facing the Medici Garden on the 
 Pincian Hill, and the landlady spoke French. 
 Edwina's cup was full. Miss Pritchard, who had 
 not been without fear that her courier would ig- 
 nore Champion's choice of a pension, was wreathed 
 in smiles. 
 
 "I do believe, Ned, it 's the quietest place we 've 
 ever found. No village could have fewer bells than 
 this part of Rome, anyway." 
 
 " And a village would be sure to have more 
 roosters." 
 
 " Yes indeed ! How fortunate we are, when 
 tourists are already pouring in, to get a place for
 
 184 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 Holy Week ! It seems as if Mr. Champion must 
 have written." 
 
 " Oh no," said Edwina coolly. " A great many 
 people must have an English speaking place. 
 This would n't fill up nearly so fast as the English 
 pensions." 
 
 " Well, we 're here, anyway ! " said Eunice tri- 
 umphantly. " We 're in Rome ! " 
 
 She had heard vague reports all her life that 
 Italy was like heaven, and from her experiences in 
 Genoa and Pisa had agreed that in one respect it 
 certainly was, there being no night there ; but here, 
 in a quiet street facing " the hither brow of the 
 Piucian Hill," with wide stretches of green knoll 
 and valley and grand old trees for neighbors, she 
 saw in pleasant anticipation a succession of still 
 nights and dreamy mornings that filled her with 
 gratitude. 
 
 " That young man always seems to know the 
 right thing for us to do, Edwina. I will do him 
 justice, whether you will or not." 
 
 They settled down then to enjoy the city of 
 fountains and marbles. They rambled industri- 
 ously through palaces and gardens and drove on 
 the Pincio. Miss Pritchard was insatiate of the 
 Vatican and St. Peter's. Somewhere near her was 
 the Holy Father in whose personality she felt such 
 overwhelming interest. 
 
 One bright morning Edwina suggested that they 
 drive out to the Catacombs. 
 
 Eunice drew up her slender shoulders. " I 've
 
 ROME 185 
 
 always shuddered at the thought of them ! " she 
 said. 
 
 " But you would n't be satisfied not to see them." 
 
 "Perhaps not; but let us wait awhile." A 
 shade of embarrassment stole over the little wo- 
 man's face as she met her child's eyes. 
 
 "What for? More sunshine? It won't pene- 
 trate there. Beside, this is a fine day. Is it more 
 courage you 're waiting for ? " 
 
 " N-no. Not exactly ; but but perhaps 
 there will be somebody be some one we shall be 
 acquainted with, so we should n't have to go alone 
 as long as you can't speak Italian." 
 
 " Did n't you hear me yesterday with the driver ? 
 Non batti il cavallo, no, no, NO ! " 
 
 " Oh yes. How effective that would be to say 
 to a guide in the Catacombs when we wanted to 
 get out ! And I 'm sure you don't know another 
 word. It will be such a pokerish place, Ned. Do 
 wait." 
 
 " For whom ? " Edwina tried not to smile. 
 " You look as if you had somebody in mind." 
 
 " I have somebody in mind," said Miss Pritchard 
 deliberately, suddenly very dignified and very red. 
 " I think Mr. Champion will be in Rome before 
 long." 
 
 Edwina's countenance grew still graver. 
 
 " I could n't prevent his coining to Rome, I 
 suppose," went on 'Eunice. "Jubilee year, when 
 every one is coming for Easter, and when thousands 
 of peasant pilgrims are coming from all over Italy
 
 186 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 in every sort of costume that of course he will want 
 to sketch. I was thinking of it yesterday when 
 we saw those strange ear-rings and head-dresses." 
 
 " Of course, so useful in his profession," mur- 
 mured Edwina. 
 
 " Certainly ; he is an artist, and and he is 
 very familiar with Rome : and, as I told you, he 
 knows people and can help us perhaps possibly 
 he can, to see the Pope." 
 
 Edwina took her cousin's face between her 
 hands. " It would be strange if Mr. Champion 
 should happen to know when we came and where 
 we are staying, would n't it ? " 
 
 Eunice wriggled her warm cheeks free. " It 
 might be," she said with dignity, " but it is n't, 
 because I wrote to him. I told him when we were 
 coining." 
 
 Edwina regarded her. "We have very good 
 times alone, little Eunice." 
 
 " Where we know the language, we do ; but a 
 kind friend like Mr. Champion will certainly be a 
 convenience here." 
 
 " You still are willing to make a convenience of 
 him." 
 
 The girl's tone was quiet, and Miss Pritchard 
 could not tell how much feeling might lie behind 
 it. She vividly remembered Ascot. 
 
 " This is different," she said hastily. " I would 
 make use of anybody to see Leo XIII. Since we 
 came I've heard nothing but how hard it is even 
 for Catholics to get an opportunity ; and I 'in so
 
 ROME 187 
 
 glad I know Mr. Champion. Do be pleasant about 
 it, Edwina, and be nice to him if he comes." 
 
 Edwina moved to the window and looked toward 
 the belvedere in the Medici Garden. " Of course 
 I will," she answered. 
 
 Her passive manner contrasted strikingly with 
 the satisfaction and interest she showed later the 
 same morning in the reception of a letter from 
 Ralph Glenn. " He grows cleverer and cleverer," 
 she said, laughing over the closely written pages. 
 " You must read this, cousin Eunice. It is very 
 bright." And Miss Pritchard, charmed to have 
 her child light-hearted, tried to show some pleasure 
 in Mr. Glenn's witticisms.
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 EDWINA'S PROMISE 
 
 IT was one morning when Edwina was absent 
 that Champion's card was brought to Miss Pritch- 
 ard as she sat in her room repairing the braid on 
 a skirt. Her first thought, as the servant handed 
 it to her, was of this fortunate coincidence, and, 
 well pleased with fortune, she looked in the glass 
 for a last smoothing of her silky bands of gray 
 hair before going to the salon. 
 
 Champion's broad back was toward her as he 
 stood in a window, hat and stick in hand. He 
 turned suddenly at her greeting. 
 
 " Good morning. Is it too early ? I thought I 
 would catch you before you could be gone for the 
 day." 
 
 " Oh no, this isn't very early for us." 
 
 Eunice indicated a seat near her own, and they 
 regarded one another for a moment with that cor- 
 diality which so easily spi-ings up between Ameri- 
 cans in a foreign land. 
 
 " When did you reach Rome ? " she asked. 
 
 " Yesterday. You see, I have not wasted 
 time." 
 
 " You always are just so kind ! "
 
 EDWINA'S PROMISE 189 
 
 " I hope your confidence will not be misplaced 
 in this instance. Rome is packed with people as 
 desirous of seeing the Pope as you are, and the 
 pilgrims are making such demands on his time and 
 strength, it is more than ordinarily difficult. I 
 haven't seen my friend, Monsignor Baccelli, yet, 
 but I know be will oblige me if he can. The best 
 chance will be to get into some large general recep- 
 tion to pilgrims at St. Peter's." 
 
 "Do you dislike to ask your friend?" asked 
 Eunice timidly, with still greater thankfulness for 
 her child's absence. 
 
 " Not in the least," returned Champion heartily. 
 
 " But you are not a Catholic? " 
 
 " No. Monsignor was a great friend of my 
 father. He will be glad to oblige me if he can. 
 People pay high prices for these tickets, of course." 
 
 Edwina seemed to loom tall and accusing before 
 her guardian, who spoke as if the actual presence 
 coerced her. 
 
 " Then we should pay too," she said hurriedly. 
 " Edwina would never consent to any other arrange- 
 ment." 
 
 Champion smiled into the crown of his hat, then 
 up at his companion. 
 
 " Let us not be afraid of her. Let us run this 
 our own way and keep our own counsel." 
 
 Eunice looked dubious. " She might ask me 
 something. She will ask me," she said, lowering 
 her voice. " No, if it is n't too expensive, I will 
 buy tickets with pleasure."
 
 190 MISS PRITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Her companion laughed softly. " Leave it to 
 me," he said presently. " It is very absurd to buy 
 tickets for such a function. I think you won't 
 have to. Is Miss Wilder well ? " 
 
 " Always, I 'm grateful to say. She is at the 
 Forum this morning. She thought it would save 
 me a good deal if she familiarized herself with it 
 first." 
 
 " Quite right, too. The fine weather has set in, 
 evidently." 
 
 " We have it everywhere. People ought to pay 
 us for staying in places." 
 
 The young man regarded her beaming face 
 quizzically. "I suppose your better judgment is 
 a thing of the past." 
 
 Miss Pritchard stirred and smiled consciously. 
 " Oh, it still acts as a rudder ; but I 'm sure now 
 it was just the thing for us to come, even," with a 
 sigh, " if we go back to the same life we left." 
 
 " You sigh. I 'm sure you and Miss W T ilder, 
 quite alone in the world as you tell me, must have 
 a cosy time of it." 
 
 " If we could be alone," said Eunice devoutly, 
 " it is all I would ever ask ; but then I suppose 
 it is unreasonable to expect it." 
 
 " Miss Wilder has been in school up to now, I 
 thought?" 
 
 " Yes, but there are vacations," said Eunice dis- 
 mally. 
 
 " And engagements will take place in vacations." 
 
 " What do you mean ? " asked Miss Pritchard 
 with startling sharpness.
 
 EDWINA'S PROMISE 191 
 
 Champion, looking up in surprise, observed that 
 she was really pale. 
 
 " You don't know what you 're talking about if 
 you think Edwina would ever allow anything like 
 that unknown to me. She may have spoken to 
 you about Mr. Glenn. Of course he writes a great 
 deal, and all that ; but there is nothing of the kind 
 yet. You have misunderstood " 
 
 " I never heard of Mr. Glenn," said Champion, 
 hastily interrupting these disclosures, which he did 
 not appear to find exhilarating. The opportunity 
 had offered temptation to inquiry, but he had not 
 intended to succeed so suddenly and so well. " I 
 merely meant that there are many social engage- 
 ments for a girl during vacations." 
 
 " Oh ! " Miss Pritchard gave a little shake of 
 the head and a smile as she. recovered herself. 
 " Indeed there ai*e. So you see when we go home 
 I know I shall have so much less of Edwina than 
 I do over here that I rather dread it." 
 
 " Yet you are going August twenty-sixth." 
 
 " Did I tell you ? So I did. I remember Ed- 
 wina came in and told me just as I was in the 
 midst of that letter to you." 
 
 " Why do you go so soon ? " 
 
 " She thought the boats would be so much worse 
 crowded a little later, on account of the return from 
 the Paris Exposition." 
 
 " I should think you would have been tempted 
 to stay over a year longer and let Miss Wilder 
 spend a winter studying in Germany."
 
 192 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 It did not impress Miss Pritchard as at all 
 strange that this young man should speculate con- 
 cerning the subject she found the most interesting 
 in the world. 
 
 " Why did n't I think of that ! " she said. " It 
 is n't too late yet. We could give up our tickets, 
 don't you think ? " 
 
 " Certainly." 
 
 " I '11 suggest it to Edwina. It would be so 
 good for her to learn German thoroughly. Of 
 course," sighing again, " it would be hard for me 
 being where I don't know the language. In Paris 
 Edwina used to write out the words I wanted to 
 remember, spelling them the way they were pro- 
 nounced, so if she were away I could ask the 
 maid for water or anything like that, or if I was 
 outdoors, I could ask for a street. The trouble 
 was, I used to get the papers mixed ; and one day 
 I wanted water and I rang for the maid and then 
 read off my paper, ' Chonz-ele-zay.' The girl looked 
 at me very stupidly, and I said it over plainer and 
 plainer, and at last she went and called a cab. I 
 know I should have all kinds of trouble in Ger- 
 many." 
 
 Champion laughed and rose. " Well, be careful 
 not to let Miss Wilder know it was my proposi- 
 tion, if you want her to think favorably of it." 
 
 Eunice colored. " Oh, Mr. Champion ! I 'm 
 sure " she began, embarrassed, and never got 
 any farther, for he said good-by, shaking hands 
 with her heartily.
 
 ED WIN A' S PROMISE 193 
 
 " You shall hear from me soon concerning his 
 Holiness. I shall be delighted if it proves that I 
 can be of service to you." 
 
 The little woman stood for a moment where he 
 left her, biting her lip. " That provoking child ! " 
 she reflected. " I thought he could n't help seeing 
 it, and yet he goes on taking such an interest and 
 being so kind. I wish I had brought Edwina up 
 as well as his mother did him ! " 
 
 When the girl returned to lunch she found her 
 guardian in a rather dignified mood. Eunice 
 thought it best to adopt this air in relating that 
 Champion had called, and describing his kind in- 
 tentions. Edwina received the news with pleasant 
 monosyllables and made no comment. 
 
 "I should think," said her guardian bridling, 
 " you could at least say you were glad there was so 
 good a prospect of our seeing the Pope." 
 
 " I want to see him very much. I 've caught 
 the fever ; but a good many people buy tickets." 
 
 " Very well," said Eunice composedly. " So 
 shall we if it is necessary. Even if we wanted to 
 buy them, we should n't know where to go or how 
 to do it. It has to be by chance in some side way 
 that we don't know anything about. We 're just 
 as dependent on Mr. Champion as ever." 
 
 " I suspect we are," responded Edwina. She 
 added after a minute, " You seem to have found 
 at last some use for a man." 
 
 " They 're often very convenient," returned Eu- 
 nice. She had begun to think again of Champion's
 
 194 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 suggestion. " I have a new idea, Ned," she added 
 with a smiling upward glance. " Let 's not go 
 home." 
 
 " Why, that 's an old idea," answered the girl. 
 " You decided that on shipboard." 
 
 " Why should n't we give up our passage on the 
 Patricia and spend next winter in Germany, and 
 let you study ? " 
 
 Edwina did not look elated. " Don't you think 
 it would be nice to go home first ? " 
 
 A cloud fell over her guardian's transparent 
 face. " I thought you'd be delighted, Ned." 
 
 " We shall have been gone nearly a year and 
 a half as it is. I think you would be home- 
 sick during a long cold winter in Germany, cousin 
 Eunice." 
 
 Miss Pritchard finished folding and putting 
 away some work, her thoughts, as usual after tak- 
 ing alarm, rushing on to dire conclusions ; then 
 she came close to her tall child and taking both 
 her hands, looked scrutinizingly up into her face. 
 
 " Ned," she began, " what makes you so anxious 
 to go home ? Tell me one thing, dear, has any 
 man anything to do with it? I'm not g<ing to 
 coerce you, or oppose you, or do anything to make 
 you unhappy ; but sometimes I fear that you may 
 surprise me. I tell you now, I could n't stand it 
 to be surprised. Let me into your heart, Ned, 
 from the very first. If Mr. Glenn's letters have 
 won your admiration so that you want to go back 
 to see if he really comes up to the ideal you are
 
 ED WIN 'A 'S PROMISE 195 
 
 forming of him, let me know it. You couldn't 
 have any pride with me, Ned, my little girl?" 
 
 The appeal in her voice would have touched a 
 hard heart. Edwina's clear eyes were very soft as 
 they looked unwaveringly into the upraised ones. 
 
 " Listen to me, cousin Eunice, for now I am 
 going to tell you something important." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's whole person expressed atten- 
 tion. 
 
 " I will never marry any one until you ask me 
 to," said the girl slowly. 
 
 Eunice gave a little involuntary start. " Then 
 you '11 be an old maid all your life," was the quick 
 reply. 
 
 Edwina nodded deliberately, without removing 
 her eyes, and even to her loving guardian she had 
 never looked so pretty. 
 
 " You could scarcely do better, Ned, scarcely 
 do better." 
 
 " For better or for worse, that is my determina- 
 tion," said Edwina. 
 
 " And not made unhappily, or under force ? " 
 
 " Made cheerfully and willingly. Does that 
 close the subject to your satisfaction? " smiling. 
 
 " Yes but still you wish to go home." 
 
 " The last of August, yes." At last the girl 
 colored richly. 
 
 Eunice dropped her hands contentedly. " It 's 
 full as sensible, I dare say. It was Mr. Champion 
 suggested your staying in Germany. I did n't say 
 so at first, for fear of prejudicing you against the 
 plan."
 
 196 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " Is he going to stay over ? " asked Ed win a 
 quietly. 
 
 " I don't suppose so. He did n't say anything 
 about his plans." 
 
 The girl moved to the window and looked across 
 the sweep of ilex groves, between the towers of the 
 Villa Medici, to the far dome of St. Peter's. " This 
 is the afternoon we can get into the Medici Gar- 
 den," she suggested after a minute. u Let us go." 
 
 Miss Pritchard assented with the anticipatory 
 relish which the last year had taught her. 
 
 They drove for awhile in the small circuit of the 
 Pincio and then left its band and accumulating 
 crowd for the long, hushed, green alleys of the old 
 villa grounds with their population of broken- 
 nosed, weather-beaten statues. Climbing the stair- 
 case to the upper garden, the mysterious green 
 depths of the bosco came in view. They sat on the 
 terrace listening to intoxicating bird-songs ren- 
 dered by descendants of those who made melody 
 for Lucullus at his feasts ; and then entered the 
 grove and climbed the mossy stone steps that lead 
 to the belvedere. 
 
 " I declare, this is a satisfaction," said Eunice 
 when she had attained the covered pavilion which 
 they saw daily, so near and yet so far from their 
 window. " Don't you remember how I would n't 
 believe this summer house did n't set on a smooth 
 grassy hill and here it was the tops of trees 
 after all." 
 
 She looked with interest at the ilex foliage slop-
 
 ED WIN 'A 1 S PEOMISE 197 
 
 ing evenly away on all sides, close and homogene- 
 ous as turf, and appearing at a little distance to 
 support the belvedere. The view of Rome and the 
 Campagna was wide. The sun dipped lovingly 
 toward St. Peter's when they came down again out 
 of the treetops, and strolled through the moist, 
 verdant alleys back into the street. 
 
 Down the Spanish steps and to the Corso they 
 sauntered, being rewarded for this walk by seeing 
 the king drive slowly by, the inevitable solemn 
 black of his entire equipage making strange con- 
 trast to the vivid scarlet of the queen's liveries, 
 which caused her carriage to be recognizable while 
 far distant. 
 
 They drank his Majesty's health in chocolate 
 at the Cafe Nazionale, and in the midst of a swal- 
 low Miss Pritchard set her cup down emphatically. 
 
 " How stupid of me ! " she exclaimed. 
 
 " What ? " asked Edwina. 
 
 " Oh nothing of any consequence." 
 
 " Evidently." 
 
 " Nothing you would have any sympathy with, 
 then." 
 
 " Now, cousin Eunice, that 's unkind." 
 
 Edwina smiled at the small cakes on her plate. 
 Nothing amused her more than the rare occasions 
 when Miss Pritchard endeavored to keep her own 
 counsel. 
 
 " Ahem ! It 's nothing, I tell you." 
 
 Edwina shook her head, assuming a look of re- 
 signation. " My rival again, I suppose."
 
 198 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Now you don't think, dear, that I rely on him 
 in anything where you could do as well ? " 
 
 "How do I know?" 
 
 " I was only thinking of the Catacombs. It 
 came over me all of a sudden that I forgot to 
 speak about them ; and I have n't an idea where 
 Mr. Champion is staying." 
 
 " Do you mean to say, cousin Eunice I don't 
 understand you at all ! " 
 
 " Why, what difference could it make to him ? 
 He is such a good-natured young man any way ; 
 and it is n't like asking him to do anything for us, 
 or even go alone with us. People go through in 
 parties, I understand, and all I ask for is to go in 
 his party ; then if I should faint or anything " 
 
 " Cousin Eunice ! " 
 
 " Well, I 've always had an idea I should faint." 
 
 " Then why go ? " 
 
 "Edwina!" reproachfully. "Do you think I 
 could miss it ? Mr. Champion would n't mind 
 carrying me, if worse came to worst, any more than 
 he would his cane ; and the very thought of an 
 Italian guide having to pick me up, and sputtering 
 the way they do ! Well what are you laughing 
 at, Edwina? The only point I make is that I 
 want to speak to him about it before he goes, 
 because I could n't ask him to go twice." 
 
 " Oh, I don't know ; perhaps you could." 
 
 " We might go back to Cook's and see if he 's 
 registered there," went on Miss Pritchard, un- 
 observant of this thrust.
 
 EDWINA'S PROMISE 199 
 
 " I would n't. You will hear from him soon 
 about the Pope business. You may be sure he 
 will never think of going near the Catacombs, 
 probably knows them by heart. More than that, 
 he probably has hosts of friends here. Don't let 
 us take him away from them again ! " 
 
 "Edwina," with great dignity, " I beg you not 
 to be morbid and foolish. Mr. Champion and 
 I understand each other perfectly, and it 's 
 it 's " 
 
 " None of my business ? Pray don't spare my 
 feelings," but the girl was laughing, and her eyes 
 twinkling in the way Eunice liked best to see 
 them, so she laughed too, and said to herself that 
 each day of this delightful wedding trip of hers 
 was happier than the last. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's grateful estimate of Howard 
 Champion as a disinterestedly kind and attentive 
 friend went several degrees higher when on the 
 following evening his card was brought to her as 
 she and Edwina sat by their lamp, the one study- 
 ing Baedeker and the other writing a letter. 
 
 " Now you 're coming into the salon, Ned," said 
 Eunice, in the tone of one who expects a contest. 
 
 " W hy ? " The girl looked up, dipping her 
 pen. 
 
 " Because it would be uncivil not to." 
 
 " He has only come on business." 
 
 " Your business as much as mine. Don't you 
 intend to see the Pope ? That letter to Mr. 
 Glenn," with suppressed impatience, " will keep."
 
 200 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " It is n't to Mr. Glenn." 
 
 " Well. At any rate, I insist upon your com- 
 ing to " 
 
 " To see that good, kind young man," finished 
 Edwina. " When you insist, little Eunice, I obey, 
 and I always shall." 
 
 " Well, I 'm glad," said Miss Pritchard, with a 
 sigh of relief. " And do behave as you do with 
 those silly, uninteresting creatures at home. Act 
 as if you had a little life, and don't leave every- 
 thing to me." 
 
 " But you understand each other so perfectly," 
 murmured Edwina, the corners of her mouth 
 twitching as she glanced in the mirror. 
 
 Eunice appeared not to trust her, for she seized 
 her arm and walked her down the corridor to the 
 salon at a smart pace, a proceeding which caused 
 Edwina to greet Champion with unwonted smiles. 
 
 " Well, you both look as if sight-seeing contin- 
 ued to agree with you," he remarked. 
 
 Eunice heaved a sigh as she took a seat. " It 
 shows what good condition we 're in. The guide 
 books all complain of how modern Rome has in- 
 jured picturesque Rome hopelessly any way, so I 
 don't see why they can't go one step further and 
 save iis thousands of steps. If they 'd let me 
 gather into one great palace the masterpieces 
 scattered all over this city, tourists would build a 
 monument to me as high as the one we would like 
 to build to Baedeker. As it is, you have to travel 
 miles to see three statues by Michelangelo, and
 
 ED WIN A' S PEOMISE 201 
 
 just so with the paintings. This villa and that 
 palace may be two squares apart, but-not both open 
 the same day." 
 
 " However, we 're not complaining," said Ed- 
 wina. 
 
 " Certainly not," said Miss Pritchard, " with 
 magnolias and japonicas in their glory everywhere, 
 and the birds in the Borghese Gardens waking me 
 up every morning." 
 
 " I fancy no works of art give you pleasure 
 equal to those of nature, even in Rome," said 
 Champion. 
 
 " I don't know," returned Eunice. " I 've had 
 feelings here I never knew before. When I looked 
 at that Dying Gladiator and seemed to realize the 
 excitement it must have been to find him, and how 
 long that creamy old marble had lain underground 
 before it was resurrected, and the way great men 
 have studied and reverenced him and a lot more of 
 them, it 's very thrilling. Edwina has a book full 
 of quotations from authorities, and we read what 
 they say of a statue or picture, and then I try to 
 see in them what they saw." 
 
 " And she does n't always succeed," said Ed- 
 wina. " At the Doria gallery this morning, I read 
 her Ruskin's sarcastic description of Claude Lor- 
 raine's ' Mill.' Cousin Eunice studied the pas- 
 toral scene while she listened, and then said : 4 I 
 don't care ; that lady in the foreground is real 
 pretty, arid it must have been lots of trouble to 
 paint it.'"
 
 202 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Champion smiled. " I 'm sure Claude's ghost 
 should have felt grateful for such gentle consola- 
 tion. Let me see : is n't that the collection where 
 the great portrait is of Innocent X. ? " 
 
 " Yes. I believe he was guilt personified, was n't 
 he?" 
 
 " I think so. At any rate, he looks the part." 
 
 " I really am tired of Romulus and Remus," 
 said Miss Pritchard. " Marble, plaster, chocolate, 
 sugar, they 're made of everything." 
 
 " I fancy that live wolf in a cage on the Capito- 
 line Hill agrees with you. I 'm certain he wishes 
 his ancestor had not been so hospitable," said 
 Champion. 
 
 " Of course, there have to be some things you 
 don't care for everywhere," said Eunice, after 
 waiting a moment to see if Edwina were intending 
 to speak, and finding that she had no thought of 
 it. " The Capuchin Cemetery, for instance, gave 
 me the shudders with its robed mummies and bony 
 decorations ; and oh, Mr. Champion," with lively 
 interest, " speaking of cemeteries, have you been 
 to the Catacombs, yet? " 
 
 " Not this time." 
 
 " Are you going ? " 
 
 " I had n't thought." He glanced over at Ed- 
 wina, whose eyes met his. The passive manner 
 with which she customarily favored him had re- 
 turned. He well knew it was not her natural one. 
 
 " Why do you ask, Miss Pritchard ? " returning 
 to the alert little woman.
 
 EDWIN A' S PEOMISE 203 
 
 " Why, you see, we felt we feel a little ner- 
 vous about the Catacombs." 
 
 " Pardon me," said Edwin a. " I think it would 
 be fair for you to explain that that is the editorial 
 we.' " 
 
 Eunice would not look in her direction for fear 
 of disheartenment. "We thought that is, I 
 thought if you were naturally going, we would" 
 she paused. 
 
 " We would naturally go the same day," finished 
 Edwina, smiling. " Cousin Eunice is planning to 
 faint in the Catacombs, Mr. Champion. It is only 
 honest to tell you." 
 
 " At your service," he responded, with a sweep- 
 ing bow toward Miss Pritchard. " Command 
 me." 
 
 " Edwina thinks I command you a great deal." 
 
 " Why not, if we both like it? " was the prompt 
 response. 
 
 " There ! " ejaculated Eunice naively, turning 
 upon her child. 
 
 Edwina shrugged her pretty shoulder and twisted 
 a ring. 
 
 " W hen shall we go ? To-morrow ? I am the 
 idlest person in Rome." 
 
 " Yes, to-morrow. Let 's have it over. Don't 
 you say so, Ned ? " 
 
 Edwina agreed sedately. 
 
 " And your friend, Mr. Champion the priest." 
 
 " Yes, I 've seen Monsignor. It is too late for 
 him to get seats for you at St. Peter's for Easter,
 
 204 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 I was hoping to accomplish that. As to the 
 Pope"- 
 
 Miss Pritchard's eager eyes dilated. 
 
 " He is going to try." 
 
 The visitor soon took his leave, one hostess giv- 
 ing his hand a cordial pressure and the other plea- 
 santly civil. 
 
 " How kind he is ! " exclaimed Eunice. " Do 
 you think, Edwina Wilder, one man in a thousand 
 would take so much pains to please an old woman 
 like me ? " 
 
 " They ought to if they would n't," said Edwina, 
 embracing her, the expression of Champion's eyes 
 at parting still in her mind. " He has better taste 
 than the average." 
 
 " Oh, you wiU admit that ? " 
 
 Edwina turned away and smiled an instant at 
 the shutters before closing them. " Certainly," 
 she answered. " It 's not for me to question his 
 taste."
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 THE three drove the next day out the Appian 
 Way. Champion sat with his back to the horses 
 and answered Miss Pritchard's questions to her 
 entire satisfaction. Edwina, in silent but con- 
 tented mood, looked over the sunny Campagna. 
 Whenever her eyes returned they were sure to 
 meet Champion's, puzzled and inquiring as they 
 had been last evening when he said good-night. 
 Often he too lapsed into a brown study, frdm 
 which Miss Pritchard's earnest queries roused him. 
 
 They stopped to enter the little Quo Vadis 
 church, where is preserved in marble a copy of the 
 print of the Saviour's feet when he appeared on this 
 spot to the fleeing Peter and turned him back to 
 duty. Eunice's Puritan blood was stirred as she 
 retreated from the garrulous old woman to whom 
 Champion gave some coins. 
 
 " The blind and awful superstition of this 
 place ! " she ejaculated. " Let 's get on to the spot 
 where once at least real Christians did worship." 
 
 When they arrived at the Catacombs a young 
 monk, who was selling the usual souvenirs at an 
 out-of-door counter, came forward with a greeting.
 
 206 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 A few other tourists were waiting, and the monk 
 signified that he was now ready to conduct the 
 party. He was a slender, wiry, alert young man, 
 and the spirit of gayety twinkling in his eyes and 
 lurking in the corners of his thin lips seemed out 
 of accord with his shaved crown and rope-bound 
 gown. 
 
 u There, I 'm sure you would n't have minded 
 having him carry you," murmured Edwina to her 
 cousin. " He looks as if he would enjoy march- 
 ing off with you pick-a-back." 
 
 " Don't joke right now, Ned," returned Miss 
 Pritchard with a sort of awful gentleness. The 
 realization of what she was about to do suddenly 
 seemed overwhelming in its nearness. 
 
 Meanwhile Champion was talking to the monk, 
 who responded briskly while he lighted the torches. 
 He answered in the affirmative when asked if he 
 would give his explanations in French, and began 
 so volubly in the latter language that Champion 
 smiled and asked him if he could speak German 
 as well. 
 
 The monk made a dissenting grimace. " Ah 
 no ; that gives me a sore throat," he said in 
 French, with a shrug. 
 
 He gave a torch to each of the party. 
 
 " Mr. Champion," said Miss Pritchard confi- 
 dentially, with an assumption of lightness. " it 's 
 sort of silly in me to go down, after all. I can't 
 understand anything he says, you know, and it's 
 very bright and pleasant on this hill. I think
 
 THE CATACOMBS 207 
 
 I '11 just sit here and wait ; and you and Ned can 
 tell me " - 
 
 Her torch was as wavering as her voice, and 
 the young man clasped her free hand in his and 
 drew her gently after the others, who were de- 
 scending a long flight of steps into the earth. 
 
 " Come right along," he said kindly. " We 're 
 going to have a good time." 
 
 " Really, I don't know what I 've been thinking 
 of ; it 's wholly against my better judgment. Dear 
 me ! what an idiot " But here the door to the 
 external world clanked behind them, and only 
 pitch darkness was before. 
 
 Eunice clung to Champion's fingers with a 
 desperate grip. " Would you mind not letting go 
 of me at all? " she gasped. 
 
 " Get him to open the door again ! " said Edwina 
 imperatively. " I won't have cousin Eunice go 
 if she does n't want to ! " 
 
 " She does want to," said Champion mildly. 
 " I should have to come back with her to-morrow 
 if she does n't go now." 
 
 " Oh, you 're so good ! " said Eunice, with a 
 half-sob born of the war between the spirit and 
 the flesh. 
 
 " Of course I am. How could I be anything else 
 here where the saints have trod ? Be careful not 
 to drop your torch, Miss Pritchard, and you will 
 be all right. We have to go single file now. Miss 
 Wilder will come behind you, and here is my 
 hand when you want it."
 
 208 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " Be as brave as the early Christians, dear," 
 said Edwina, seeing that they were in for it. 
 
 "Perhaps this wouldn't seem so bad to me," 
 quavered Eunice, " if I knew that lions were wait- 
 ing for me if I went upstairs." 
 
 They moved on through the narrow, tortuous 
 corridor. Champion at once began telling her 
 what the guide was saying, and in a short time 
 they came out into a square chapel where there 
 were glass-covered caskets containing skeletons. 
 One had hair flowing down to its bony shoulders. 
 The guide, who had been chattering with an unin- 
 terrupted flow of spirits, waved his torch about to 
 exhibit the shelf-like graves in the walls, then let 
 the light rest upon this grinning face. Catching 
 Edwina's eye, he glanced down at the ancient 
 skeleton and shook his head with a deep sigh over 
 the dusty tresses. 
 
 " Ah, la jeunesse! la vanite!" he said pen- 
 sively, his merry eyes twinkling. 
 
 Edwina and Champion brought a smile to 
 Eunice's face by translating and enlarging upon 
 the irrepressible monk's comments. Miss Pritch- 
 ard's color came back, and by following close 
 upon the young man's heels she took the next 
 winding corridor with rising courage, in spite of 
 the fact that the path was full of humps and hol- 
 lows over which one must stumble blindly, torches 
 merely disclosing the wall of graves on right and 
 left. " 
 
 The guide was not always flippant. He indi"
 
 THE CATACOMBS 209 
 
 cated the fish and other ancient symbols rudely 
 graven in the rock, and referred dramatically to 
 those faithful ones whom persecution and martyr- 
 dom could not force to waver. 
 
 In the chapel of St. Cecilia Miss Pritchard 
 quite forgot her tremors, even forgot Edwina and 
 Champion, and these two were left on the out- 
 skirts of the little group who were throwing their 
 torchlights on the recumbent statue of the martyr 
 in her pathetic attitude of abandon. 
 
 " How dreadfully natural she looks, with her 
 poor little hands clasped and her hair thrown' for- 
 ward and hiding her face ! " said Edwina. 
 
 Champion looked not at the statue, but at the 
 speaker. " You seem to think of late that all 
 naturalness is dreadful," he returned. 
 
 The girl looked up at him quickly. " What do 
 you mean ? " 
 
 " You know well enough. I thought we had 
 buried the hatchet in the sands at Cannes. Is 
 this Roman one brand new, or did you dig up the 
 other after I left?" 
 
 " Hush ! I must hear what he is saying." 
 For the musical voice of the young monk was ris- 
 ing and falling with his theme. Miss Pritchard, 
 finding herself near a man who understood and 
 explained to his wife, was absorbed in listening 
 and in gazing at the slender, girlish white form. 
 
 " You need n't," returned Champion, " because 
 I '11 take you to see the original of the statue. 
 That is n't it ; but there 's another martyr in the
 
 210 MISS PBITCHAED'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Catacombs I 'd like to have you take some interest 
 in. Here I am " for Edwina's glance was 
 sweeping the walls. 
 
 " Oh well you don't understand " added 
 the girl hurriedly. 
 
 " Precisely what I complain of. I have n't seen 
 you alone a minute since that afternoon on the 
 beach at Cannes ; and as I despair of ever doing 
 so above ground, there 's no time like the present." 
 
 Edwina instinctively moved her torch till her 
 face was in shadow. Champion as promptly threw 
 his light upon it. There was a frown and a smile 
 there. 
 
 " If you only knew cousin Eunice It is so 
 hard to explain." 
 
 ' Try, just try. What has she to do with it ? " 
 
 " She 's the best woman in the world, you know, 
 but she's a little bit jealous" - Edwina hesi- 
 tated. 
 
 " Of Mr. Glenn. Yes, I know. So am I." 
 
 " Has she told you that ? " The torch revealed 
 a sudden smile. " Well, I 've learned don't you 
 see, I 've learned " 
 
 " Well, what ? " 
 
 " Wisdom. She does n't like men at all, any- 
 way." 
 
 " Come now, Miss Wilder ! I flatter myself she 
 has a soft spot for me." 
 
 " But there 's only one reason for that." 
 
 " Oh, I 'm not so vain as to suppose there are 
 more. I 'in not even sure what that one is."
 
 THE CATACOMBS 211 
 
 "Simple enough. She likes you because she 
 believes I do not." 
 
 Champion made earnest use of his torch. 
 
 "And you what? Then is that "- 
 
 " Ned ! Mr. Champion ! Where have you 
 gone? " For they had fallen back insensibly. 
 
 " Right here, cousin Eunice," said Edwina, 
 hastening to meet her. 
 
 " For a second I did n't know but you were 
 lost ! " ejaculated Miss Pritchard in frantic ac- 
 cents, seizing her. 
 
 " No, no," said Champion, " only we are so tall 
 we could easily see over the heads of the others ; 
 so we stood back a little." 
 
 " Don't you do it again ! " said Eunice. 
 
 " Certainly not, certainly not," responded the 
 young man with such alacrity that Edwina need 
 say nothing. 
 
 " I don't altogether understand," he said to her 
 very low. 
 
 "Then you're a bit stupid," she answered, still 
 lower ; but he caught the words and the fleeting, 
 ravishing smile that accompanied them. 
 
 They moved on in the small procession ; but 
 what were the hills and hollows, the paintings, the 
 scrawls, the musty air, and the legends of this his- 
 toric labyrinth of death to those whose life was just 
 beginning to blossom ? 
 
 The fun-loving monk chattered away, undeterred 
 by the gruesome surroundings. Once he held his 
 torch toward pencilings on the wall where certain 
 inane tourists had written their names.
 
 212 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Inscriptions modernes" he explained. 
 
 A number of the party were laughing at his 
 comments by the time the door was reached leading 
 again to the upper world. He flung it open and 
 revealed a long flight of steps and the blessed light 
 of day. 
 
 " It is something of a penitence to climb them 
 any way," said the merry soul. " You are all good 
 people. I will not make you climb them on your 
 knees." They laughed again. It was easy to 
 laugh, freed from the long constraint of burrowing 
 like moles through the narrow, earthy corridors. 
 The young monk flushed as his eyes met Edwina's 
 happy ones. 
 
 " I bad man," he said in English with a depre- 
 cating air, "but good very good," he added 
 earnestly. 
 
 " How do you know your way about under there?" 
 asked the girl in French, preceiving that they had 
 emerged at a point remote from their entering- 
 place. 
 
 " Do you know Boston ?" he answered simply. 
 
 He had reason to be a jolly young monk when 
 he looked at the fee one of the Americans had be- 
 stowed on him. Champion would have delved 
 much deeper into Mother Earth to have found the 
 gold mine he had discovered in Cecilia's tomb. 
 Before their ship had sighted England he had 
 known that if she were to be won, Edwina Wilder 
 was the woman he should marry, and each meeting 
 with her since had but heightened this determina- 
 tion.
 
 THE CATACOMBS 213 
 
 His thoughts had been busy during the last por- 
 tion of their pilgrimage. If, as she implied, she 
 had taken the trouble to act, it seemed to indicate 
 an interest in himself not compatible with disturb- 
 ing rumors concerning the invisible Glenn who had 
 haunted two long nights. In the revulsion of feel- 
 ing, the sunshine, and the long drive home, there 
 was an undercurrent of excitement in Champion's 
 volubility which caused Eunice to regard him with 
 doubtful and surprised scrutiny. 
 
 " Did you notice anything queer about Mr. 
 Champion coming home ? " she asked Edwina after 
 they had bade him good-by. 
 
 " I never heard him talk so well," replied the 
 girl coolly. 
 
 " I don't know." Miss Pritchard looked 
 thoughtful as she took off her bonnet. " I don't 
 like to suspect such a thing of him, but he acted 
 so different coming home from what he did going, 
 I could n't help thinking he might possibly have 
 taken something well, something intoxicating, 
 down there in the dark ! " 
 
 Edwina bowed her head over an obstinate glove- 
 button. 
 
 " He might have felt queer or faint, you 
 know," went on Eunice. " I don't think even a 
 big, strong man need be ashamed of getting such 
 feelings in such a place. It is n't exactly being 
 scared, you can't call it that." 
 
 " I won't," returned Edwina demurely. " What- 
 ever the sensation was, I 'm sure if Mr. Champion
 
 214 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 had it, it was a highly honorable one, and very 
 much to his credit ; and if he used a pocket flask 
 it was only what any man of spirit ought to have 
 done under the circumstances " 
 
 " Ned Wilder, you don't think he did ! " 
 
 " No, it 's you who think he did." 
 
 " But did n't you notice the change in him ? 
 Come now without joking." 
 
 " Yes ; a change decidedly for the better. I 
 should recommend him the same tonic daily." 
 
 " How uncharitable we are to say such things ! " 
 exclaimed Eunice suddenly. " As if a man's mood 
 could n't alter without but really it was a new 
 mood; he laughed so easily, and any thought of 
 fictitious happiness is so painful ! " 
 
 " It certainly is," responded Edwina. 
 
 She had some fear lest Champion might now 
 take up his abiding-place at their pension, it being 
 his customary home in Rome ; but he did not. It 
 was a favorite with Germans, of whom there were 
 many in the house, the large-boned, robust- voiced 
 women making the Americans feel physically feeble 
 and insignificant. Occasionally these Germans 
 spoke some English. 
 
 There were not lacking the Americans whose 
 favorite subject of conversation in a foi'eign land 
 is the superior merit of their home institutions. A 
 man from Chicago sat opposite Edwina at table, 
 and his neighbor was a charming white-haired 
 German baroness who made courteous and great 
 effort to follow his speech and to respond properly.
 
 THE CATACOMBS 215 
 
 One day he was enlarging upon the attractions of 
 his native city, and naturally became voluble upon 
 so seductive a topic. As a culmination of the con- 
 veniences and advantages which he had been cel- 
 ebrating, he explained in detail the system of street 
 numbering employed in the city by the lake. 
 
 His neighbor had listened with the closest at- 
 tention, and when he at last came to a triumphant 
 pause and looked into her eyes with a challenge, 
 she waited a moment and then responded sympa- 
 thetically, in most polite but broken English : 
 
 " It must be very annoying to live in Chicago ! " 
 
 The American hesitated, gasped and decided 
 to go on with his dinner. 
 
 Holy Week had come, and Miss Pritchard, to 
 whom every tomb in St. Peter's had become as 
 familiar as the revered black bronze of the saint, 
 and the ninety-five golden lamps ever burning about 
 his resting place, now made nearly daily pilgrim- 
 ages thither. Hope sprang eternal in her breast 
 that the Pope might unexpectedly honor one of 
 these services with his presence. Notices and ru- 
 mors of his receptions tantalized her. 
 
 On Holy Thursday Eunice and Edwina took 
 their camp-stools in the cab with them right after 
 lunch and visited an old villa garden until it was 
 time for service. Eunice temporarily forgot the 
 Pope in admiration of box and laurel hedges as 
 high as her head, and two yards in thickness. Red 
 and white camellias and azaleas were blossoming 
 luxuriantly, and climbing vines of heliotrope clung
 
 216 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 to the walls. Flights of stone steps conducted 
 beside dried cascades from terrace to terrace, and 
 statues dark with age guarded ever-young hedges 
 of roses in full bloom. Everywhere in the land- 
 scape stood the sombre cypresses which had gained 
 such beauty in the sight of these strangers, their 
 slender spires delicately and permanently bent by 
 vanished winds. Eunice went humming to herself 
 through the still old garden, Edwina following ab- 
 sorbed in thoughts which in these days colored any 
 environment and made it lovely. At last Miss 
 Pritchard started with recollection. 
 
 " I hope you 're watching the time, Ned." 
 
 " Any time now we might go." 
 
 " Well, I should n't like to miss any of it." 
 
 Eunice's enthusiasm lasted even under the strain 
 of that long afternoon. It was their first expe- 
 rience of a crowd in St. Peter's. The service 
 consisted of the Tenebre, the Miserere, and the 
 washing of the High Altar. It began at half-past 
 four, and a multitude gathered in the vast edifice. 
 
 " I never before knew what was meant by the 
 expression, ' the tide of humanity,' " said Edwina. 
 
 A sound precisely like the surge of the sea went 
 up from the crowd and continued in rhythmic 
 measure during the long hours that they sat on 
 their backless camp-stools and listened to the mo- 
 notonous chant, and the impressive Miserere. 
 
 Daylight faded, and under the gathering shadows 
 the sea of humanity surged on. Darkness fell, 
 torches glimmered here and there throughout the
 
 THE CATACOMBS 217 
 
 church. At last a procession of cardinals and 
 canons, each bearing a lighted candle, slowly 
 marched to the altar under the dome, poured oil 
 and wine upon it, and wiped it off in token of 
 humility. 
 
 Next was to come the rare showing of the relics 
 in St. Veronica's balcony, above the colossal statue 
 of the saint running to show the towel which bears 
 the imprint of the Saviour's face. This balcony was 
 lighted with tall candles, making a luminous spot 
 in the vast dark. Suddenly there came a sharp 
 noise like what might be produced by a huge 
 watchman's rattle, and all eyes were raised. A 
 prelate came out upon the balcony bearing the 
 spear-point that pierced Jesus' side. It was a 
 marvel how the human sea stopped surging and 
 absolute silence fell upon the thousands of wor- 
 shipers. Nearly all the crowd sank upon their 
 knees. 
 
 The priest retired. After a minute, again 
 sounded the mysterious, sharp warning, and he re- 
 appeared with a piece of the cross. A third time, 
 and it was Veronica's towel. In the hush and 
 darkness the priest's robed figure suspended in 
 a bright halo, and holding forth the glittering 
 framed objects, struck an awe to that multitude 
 of kneeling worshipers which all might feel. At 
 last the light vanished, the spell was broken, and 
 hastily the crowd arose and poured away invisibly 
 across the marble floor. 
 
 Eunice held Edwina tightly. " Don't lose me,
 
 218 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Ned. It 's nearly as bad as the Catacombs. I 
 can't see my hand before me." 
 
 Slowly they pressed their way out, and the first 
 thing they observed on reaching the fresh air was 
 that umbrellas had sprung mushroom-like all over 
 the piazza. The fountains gleamed ghostly-white 
 through the murky air. 
 
 " We '11 never get a cab in the world, Ned ! " 
 cried Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Nor a car for an hour at least," replied her 
 companion. " Why, I should think that was it 
 is Mr. Champion standing there by that pillar." 
 
 " Let 's go to him ! " Eunice craned her neck 
 in all directions to recognize her friend in need, in 
 order not to be dependent upon Edwina's reluctant 
 guidance. " I can't see him. Don't be foolish, 
 Ned. It 's after eight o'clock, and I 'm tired and 
 famished. He '11 help us, I 'm sure, otherwise I 
 don't see how we 're ever going to get home." 
 
 "What can he do?" 
 
 " I don't know, but he can always do something. 
 Oh, there he is ! I see him ! " 
 
 " Well, don't let go of me ! " exclaimed Edwina, 
 suppressing a laugh. 
 
 " Hurry, then. We must catch him before he 
 goes ! " 
 
 The girl well knew he would not go before the 
 last woman had descended that broad sweep of 
 steps, on the length and breadth of which he was 
 keeping close watch ; but she yielded to Miss 
 Pritchard's nervous pulling, and approached the 
 tall figure next the pillar.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 
 
 " MR. CHAMPION ! " cried Eunice eagerly. 
 
 He turned, his eyes resting on Edwina with a 
 look she feared her cousin would observe. 
 
 " If you had been hunting for us, it would have 
 been worse than the search for the needle in the 
 hay-mow," went on Miss Pritchard joyously. 
 
 " I was, in a way. I thought it likely you would 
 be here, and finding it raining, I saw you would 
 have trouble to get home. I found they were n't 
 letting people come out by the Holy Door, so that 
 narrowed the exit, and gave me some hope of see- 
 ing you in the jam." 
 
 " And instead we saw you. How easily we 
 might have missed each other ! " 
 
 " Yes, it was the hundredth chance, and I won." 
 
 " You 're very good ! " Eunice cast her glance 
 down to the piazza, where whips were cracking and 
 wheels rolling, while the usual order of things was 
 reversed, most of the would-be passengers search- 
 ing vainly for cabs and the successful applicants 
 paying double fare. 
 
 " I suppose it 's going to be hard to get a car- 
 riage," she remarked, wondering why Champion 
 was so deliberate.
 
 220 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " No, I have one waiting. Are you ready ? Can 
 you make this umbrella do for you both, Miss 
 Wilder?" 
 
 They moved down the glistening steps to a wait- 
 ing cab and entered it. 
 
 " I 've good news for you, Miss Pritchard," 
 said the young man as the horse started. 
 
 " The Pope ! " 
 
 " Yes ; I shall have tickets for the Friday after 
 Easter at St. Peter's." 
 
 " How can I thank you enough ! Edwina, how 
 can we thank him ? " 
 
 " Oh, I shall get my reward, never fear. Some- 
 time I shall be asking a favor of you, perhaps, Miss 
 Pritchard." 
 
 " I only wish you would," she returned heartily. 
 " I 'm sure we owe you a great deal ; and Edwina 
 feels it too, Mr. Champion, though she never says 
 very much." 
 
 Here followed a coercive pressure of her child's 
 arm in the darkness. 
 
 " If you are quite sure she does," said Cham- 
 pion after a moment's silence, " then I shall not 
 scruple to ask a favor of her too." 
 
 At that such an imperative nudge assailed Ed- 
 wina that she found her voice. " All this sounds 
 very commercial," she said. " This promising in 
 the dark is dangerous, don't you think, cousin 
 Eunice ? " 
 
 " She 's joking, Mr. Champion, as usual. I 
 can't get her to be serious. She always was
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 2*21 
 
 naughty when she was hungry, anyway. I can't 
 tell you the number of times I punished that child 
 before I found out that she needed bread and milk 
 instead of a dark closet." 
 
 Her companions both laughed, and the sound 
 relieved the tension of Miss Pritchard's brow. " 1 
 do think he has the most amiable, forgiving dis- 
 position I ever met," she thought ; and to her fur- 
 ther relief, Edwina spoke again. 
 
 " I 'm really very much pleased that you could 
 get the tickets, Mr. Champion. Cousin Eunice 
 had so set her heart on it, and I could n't find out 
 any definite way of procuring them." 
 
 " There, is n't that gracious, Miss Pritchard ? " 
 asked the young man. " One would believe that 
 Miss Edwina had found the bread and milk. By 
 the way, you would get scarcely more than that 
 at the pension by the time you reached home. 
 We 'd better find something to eat on the way." 
 
 " I think so," said Miss Pritchard, " if you will 
 be my guest." 
 
 " But I like to be host." 
 
 " So do I. Be careful ! I don't stand opposi- 
 tion myself very well when I 'm hungry." 
 
 Among the pleasantest occurrences in her life 
 Edwina always afterward remembered the cosy 
 supper in that private room, although she ate very 
 little of it. Miss Pritchard talked absorbedly of 
 her Roman interests, and Edwina and Champion 
 listened enough to be able to answer, while they 
 were keenly conscious of the delight of passing
 
 222 MISS PBITCHAEWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 one another the bread or the salt, and occasionally 
 each caught the light in the other's eyes. Sud- 
 denly Miss Pritchard diverged from commenting 
 on the relics they had been seeing displayed, to 
 gaze pensively into her wineglass, where the Asti 
 spumente was bubbling. 
 
 " What would Miranda say if she knew that I 
 was used to drinking wine, used to it ! This," 
 sipping it judicially, "is very good, like sparkling 
 cider, only grape-y instead of apple-y. It tastes 
 real innocent, I think, Mr. Champion, and very, 
 very nice; but we never drink wine at home 
 never and never shall. When you come to see 
 us you will get cold water only." 
 
 " That 's all right so long as you don't pour any 
 of it on our friendship ; but water is a little thin 
 for drinking toasts. Now that we are together, 
 perhaps I had better utilize the opportunity to get 
 your good wishes. Here and let us drink it 
 standing I ask you both to drink to my future 
 wife." 
 
 Eunice rose, gazing at her friend with a new 
 interest. His face was very serious, hers beaming 
 with friendly surprise. " What ! are you going to 
 be married ? " 
 
 " I hope so, Miss Pritchard." 
 
 " Stand up, Ned," warningly, for the girl lin- 
 gered in her chair. " Stand up, dear." 
 
 " She has n't the excuse of hunger now for being 
 naughty, has she?" said Champion, and after an- 
 other second's pause, Edwina rose.
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 223 
 
 " Be careful, Mr. Champion," she said gravely. 
 " You must never let your your fiancee meet my 
 cousin. She would frighten her away from mar- 
 riage. She does not believe in men." 
 
 Eunice regarded her contrary child with sur- 
 prise and chagrin. " It is uncivil of you to talk 
 so at this time, my dear," she said gently. "I am 
 a very ignorant woman about many things, and 
 there are exceptions to every rule." 
 
 " You promised to tell me when you met an ex- 
 ception." 
 
 This obstinate indelicacy covered Miss Pritch- 
 ard with confusion. Here was the last proof 
 needed of her child's arrogant attitude toward 
 Champion. 
 
 " I am very glad for the young lady," she said 
 earnestly, recovering herself and bowing toward 
 him, " that she has won a man who, whatever 
 faults he may have, has proven himself the soul 
 of thoughtful kindness to strangers in a strange 
 land." 
 
 Champion was reading Edwina's face eagerly. 
 It looked cool and impassive. The pretty lips 
 were set in a proud curve. The eyelids no longer 
 lifted for him. He saw that he must go no fur- 
 ther, perhaps in his rush of happiness had gone 
 too far. 
 
 " I thank you, Miss Pritchard," he said. " We 
 drink to her then." 
 
 Eunice turned toward Edwina. " To the health, 
 happiness, and life-long prosperity of you both," 
 she said.
 
 224 MISS PEITCHAED'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 The girl heeded the commanding note in her 
 cousin's voice. She touched her glass to her lips 
 and sat down quickly, as pale as she had been 
 rosy. 
 
 When they reached home and their escort had 
 said good-night, Miss Pritchard put her arms 
 around her child in an unusual caress. " You act 
 as if you were tired out, Ned. We 've been doing 
 too much, I 'in afraid. You are n't tired of Rome, 
 are you ? " 
 
 Edwina returned the embrace, and nestled her 
 cheek against her companion's silky hair. " I 
 love Rome. I could never grow tired of it," she 
 said low and fervently. 
 
 " Oh, well, then," said Miss Pritchard, relieved. 
 
 " You need n't stop loving me just on that ac- 
 count," said Edwina, holding the other's relaxing 
 arms. 
 
 "I couldn't do that, though yon do exasperate 
 me beyond words to express, Ned." Eunice spoke 
 reproachfully while she patted the girl's shoulder. 
 "Not a word of congratulation or sympathy to 
 that good, kind young man at such a time. Think 
 of throwing a wet blanket on him when he con- 
 fided in us ! How could you, dear ? " 
 
 " Is n't that the way you have brought me up ? " 
 came the muffled inquiry close to Eunice's ear. 
 " I think I did well not to tell him that he was a 
 monster who was going to make her wretched, and 
 that she was totally unreasonable to love him." 
 
 " He may turn out a very unusual husband.
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 225 
 
 I 'm sure we have every reason to give him the 
 benefit of the doubt ; and the point I make is that 
 it is none of our business any way, and has nothing 
 to do with us, and that he had a right to expect 
 our courtesy and interest. Two or three times, 
 Edwina, you have surprised me by what can't 
 be termed anything milder than rudeness to Mr. 
 Champion, and I have almost a mind to talk with 
 your teachers when I get home and tell them that 
 I 'm dissatisfied with their training. It is n't all 
 my fault." 
 
 Edwina stood up and began to take out her 
 hairpins. " I '11 try to do better," she said meekly. 
 
 " You went back and said something to him just 
 as we parted to-night. I meant to ask you what it 
 was." 
 
 "Oh that?" said the girl with some embar- 
 rassment. " I just I only asked him not to 
 not to call very often." 
 
 Miss Pritchard plumped down on the side of 
 the bed and stared at her child as if hopeless of 
 doing the subject justice. " I suppose you did n't 
 say exactly that, Ned," she appealed at last gently. 
 " I suppose you expressed a fear that he might find 
 us away." 
 
 "I I might have put it that way," said Ed- 
 wina with an unmistakably guilty manner, " but I 
 didn't. I just said that. You know, cousin 
 Eunice, we have so much still planned to do, and 
 shall be so busy." 
 
 " Right after he had got the promise of those
 
 226 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 tickets ! " said Eunice, looking about as if calling 
 upon the furniture to witness her despair. " No 
 one would stand that, not even Mr. Champion. 
 Very well, Edwina Wilder, we shall receive a note 
 from him to-morrow withdrawing about the tickets, 
 and I shan't blame him, remember. He is 
 perfectly justified in anything he may do." 
 
 When Miss Pritchard pronounced her full 
 name, Edwina knew the stress of feeling indi- 
 cated. " Really, I don't think he is offended," 
 she remarked earnestly. " He knows how absorb- 
 ing sightseeing is." 
 
 " Your time is n't so valuable when it comes to 
 reading Mr. Glenn's letters," said Miss Pritchard 
 bitterly, " and writing him, I don't know how 
 many pages. There 's plenty of time, then." 
 
 Edwina repressed a smile at the small ruffled 
 individual on the bed, and shook her thick blonde 
 hair about her face. " Now stop scolding me," 
 she said coaxingly, " until you find out whether 
 your paragon has been hurt or not." 
 
 " If he is n't, it will be only because his head is 
 so full of his sweetheart that anything any one else 
 may say falls flat." 
 
 " Do you know, cousin Eunice, I think that is 
 the precise state of the case," said the girl gently. 
 
 Perhaps the love of a lover cannot be killed out 
 in the most pessimistic breast. At all events, Miss 
 Pritchard's expression changed to one of remi- 
 niscent interest. 
 
 " He took me greatly by surprise, somehow,"
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 227 
 
 she said. " I don't know why he should n't be in 
 love, I 'm sure ; but I suppose I don't think about 
 those things. Do you mean you had suspected it 
 before to-day ? " 
 
 Edwina nodded her head slowly. 
 
 "When? Why?" curiously. 
 
 " Oh, some of those days at Cannes. I thought 
 I saw signs." 
 
 " Well, that was clever of you," said Eunice 
 admiringly ; but her brow clouded. " All the more 
 reason why you should have been prepared and 
 responsive to-day." 
 
 " You must alter your training, then," said 
 Edwina, smiling behind the veil of hair she was 
 brushing. " As the twig is bent, the tree inclines, 
 you know. I 'm afraid it is your doing, and not 
 my teachers'." 
 
 These two Americans had had expectations that 
 Easter in Holy Week of the Jubilee year at St. 
 Peter's would be a marvelous celebration. They 
 and those useful companions, the camp-stools, were 
 in the church that morning before nine o'clock, and 
 they took up their situation near the altar. The 
 crowd was very large, and the tide ebbed and flowed 
 with the same surging sound as on the previous 
 Thursday. Cardinal Rampolla, assisted by a large 
 number of priests, conducted the elaborate service, 
 about which there was much pomp and ceremony. 
 The music was interesting ; but in all that huge 
 church not one flower bloomed, and spite of the 
 red cloth hangings upon the colossal pillars, the
 
 228 MISS PRITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 effect was of gloom, as if the thought had not been 
 able to get past the crucifixion. 
 
 Miss Pritchard whispered to Edwina in the 
 midst of the service : " There is n't a little village 
 church in Massachusetts where it would n't seem 
 more like Easter than this ! " 
 
 It remained to be seen if the long-anticipated 
 view of Leo XIII. were going to prove another 
 disappointment. 
 
 Howard Champion again vindicated his superior- 
 ity by failing to take offense at Edwina's frank- 
 ness. Right after dinner a note from him arrived 
 inclosing the coveted tickets. Miss Pritchard, 
 upon opening and reading it, enlarged, greatly to 
 the girl's edification, upon the nobility of nature, 
 the broad mind, the admirably impersonal outlook 
 and lack of pettiness which this action proved. 
 
 " Although I must say, Ned, when I was your 
 age, if a young man like that had ignored every- 
 thing I did and said as Mr. Champion does you, 
 it would have piqued me some," she added. 
 
 Edwina folded her hands and regarded her 
 cousin, smiling. " You see, then," she returned, 
 " that he is not the only broad-minded, lofty nature 
 of your acquaintance, for I am not at all disturbed. 
 Praise me a little while for a change." 
 
 " Indeed I won't," said Eunice, looking fondly 
 at the pieces of stamped paper, " when I think you 
 put these in peril ! " 
 
 " I am only pleased that he has obeyed me so 
 well in staying away," remarked the girl. " Plow-
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 229 
 
 ever, if he had withdrawn about the tickets, you 
 would have seen me eat humble pie. I would n't 
 have such a crime as that on my conscience for any 
 consideration ! I should have written him to come 
 at once ; to call three times a day if it suited him." 
 
 " As if that would have brought him around ! " 
 said Miss Pritchard scornfully. " He would n't 
 have come at all ! " 
 
 " Then I should have gone to him," said Edwina, 
 her eyes dancing. " We would have enacted a 
 scene from grand opera. I should have worn a 
 long train and a heavy veil, and you would have 
 been my duenna. We should have hunted him 
 down in his hotel, and I should have pleaded and 
 cried and seized his hand " 
 
 " I 'd like to see you seizing Mr. Champion's 
 hand ! " ejaculated Eunice dryly. 
 
 " Would you really? I might if I were properly 
 urged." 
 
 " Here, do something with these flowers, Ned," 
 for hyacinths and violets had accompanied the 
 note. " I do think he was too sweet to send them. 
 I suppose he was thinking of that girl, and wish- 
 ing he could send them to her." 
 
 " Not a doubt of it," agreed Edwina. 
 
 " If you had n't embarrassed me so that night, 
 I should have asked him who she was. He would 
 have told, in the mood he was then ! " 
 
 " Ah, we 're going back to that night, are we ? 
 Let us dispose of these flowers by wearing them. 
 Do you think you could spare me a few ? "
 
 230 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 The girl pinned the hyacinths in the front of 
 her cousin's gown. 
 
 " They are as much yours as mine, perhaps," 
 said Eunice. " He is quite capable of it." 
 
 " Then if you think so, I will wear his lordship's 
 violets." 
 
 Miss Pritchard watched the little satisfied smile 
 with which the girl arranged the purple fragrance 
 on her bosom, and commented silently : " If she 
 is n't the oddest child that ever breathed ! I de- 
 clare, nobody could get me to put those on in her 
 place. How can she be sure he won't come in ? 
 I 'd be too proud for that if I 'd acted the way she 
 has." 
 
 " Well, the afternoon is perfect," said Edwina 
 when the flowers were satisfactorily arranged. 
 " Let us go over to the Borghese Gardens. The 
 Queen always drives there on Easter, I hear." 
 
 " I never come into these grounds without think- 
 ing of Ariadne," said Edwina, after they had paid 
 their entrance fee and were strolling in the grand 
 avenues of the old garden. 
 
 " My head is full of ' The Marble Faun ' and 
 'Ariadne' both, all the time," returned Miss 
 Pritchard, her arm through her child's ; " and 
 what with my own thoughts and imaginings, and 
 so much picturesqueness, I sometimes feel as if I 
 hadn't good sense any more." 
 
 " Precisely my sensations," remarked Edwina. 
 
 " Are n't we having a good time just we two 
 alone ! " burst forth Eunice, sighing in one of the
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 231 
 
 ecstasies of satisfaction to which she sometimes 
 rose. 
 
 " So you don't want any one else. My rival 
 is n't quite my equal ? " hazarded Edwina, listen- 
 ing painfully for the reply to her jest. 
 
 " You silly child ! " Eunice laughed and gave 
 the round arm a squeeze. 
 
 " Oh, well, please recollect there have been a 
 number of occasions when I did n't fill the void at 
 all." 
 
 " Men do seem almost a necessity sometimes," 
 said Miss Pritchard lightly ; " but I lay awake a 
 good deal last night, and I got to thinking of one 
 thing after another, and you 'd laugh at me well, 
 Edwina, if you knew why two or three tears wet 
 my pillow." 
 
 " I doubt if I could laugh at your tears, little 
 Mother Eunice." 
 
 " My darling ! " Miss Pritchard gave the arm a 
 more loving pressure. " Is n't this the most roman- 
 tic place ? Just look at the variety of wild flowers 
 what yellows and purples and reds ! Let us go 
 and sit among them." 
 
 They had reached the old fountain where horses 
 rear from a basin, their aged mouths filled with 
 weeds and maidenhair fern. The water trickling 
 amid mosses made pleasant murmuring, and vener- 
 able trees shaded the fields about. 
 
 " We will sit here and watch for Margherita," 
 said Edwina, " and you shall tell me this waking 
 dream of yours. Was it romantic enough to fit 
 this scene ? "
 
 232 MISS PEITCHARVS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Oh, you '11 laugh at me, as I said." Eunice 
 stooped and caressed a buttercup. " But your ask- 
 ing about your rival and if I was satisfied with us 
 two alone, brought it back to me. Is n't it queer 
 how night will bring thoughts you 'd never have 
 in the daytime ? I was thinking of Mr. Champion, 
 and how kind he 'd been, and wondering if his 
 sweetheart felt about him as well, as girls do 
 when they believe everything to be rose-color ; and 
 I said to myself, suppose he had happened to 
 please Edwina, and we had gone on in ignorance, 
 just as we have, of any love-affair, and she had 
 set her heart on him don't laugh, Ned." The 
 speaker looked up quickly, to find an unbroken 
 gravity on her companion's face, and its expression 
 seemed to encourage her, for she proceeded with 
 more confidence. " For they do ; sometimes girls 
 don't wait for any encouragement or persuasion, 
 they just set their hearts on some particular 
 man, and could n't give a reason for it to save 
 them. Well, I supposed the case, and your never 
 having confided in me, you know, and then his 
 suddenly telling us of his engagement there as he 
 did in the supper-room ; and I seemed to realize it, 
 and it worked on me so, the first thing I knew I 
 was crying. Was n't it silly ? " 
 
 " That would be dreadful," said Edwina seri- 
 ously. 
 
 " It 's like death. There is n't anything else to 
 compare with it ; and because it 's the worst thing 
 in the world, I 've always had a horror lest it should
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 233 
 
 come to you ; and that 's what makes this day seem 
 heavenly to me ; makes those loud bird-notes and 
 all this flowery grass seem like paradise ; to think 
 you 're right here by me fancy-free." 
 
 " But if there had n't been any one in the way," 
 said Edwina, " I suppose you would have been glad 
 to have me as susceptible in this case as you 
 dreamed." 
 
 Miss Pritchard put her hand on her child's lap. 
 " Thank God, we 've been spared so far ! " 
 
 " Then you will always want us to be spared, for 
 I cannot hope you will like any man better than 
 Mr. Champion." 
 
 The note of dejection in her companion's voice 
 made Eunice look at her quickly. " Ah, Ned, you 
 are like all the rest ! You prefer to try this ex- 
 periment of marriage in spite of everything." 
 
 " Not in spite of everything," returned the girl. 
 " Least of all in spite of you. Remember my pro- 
 mise. That subject is settled." 
 
 With painful clearness Ralph Glenn's face 
 beamed upon Miss Pritchard's mental vision as if 
 projected on a screen, and she looked off over the 
 flowery meads where the children were dancing, 
 during a minute of silence. " We 're happy until 
 we go home though, Ned, are n't we ? " she asked 
 at last, appealingly. 
 
 " Indeed, we are," replied Edwina brightly, 
 " until we go home, and after we go home, and 
 always. I think by the way the people are gather- 
 ing, the Queen must be expected. Let us stand
 
 234 MISS PEITCHAEWS WELDING TRIP 
 
 here right by the road, for if any one gets in front 
 of you, you can't see." 
 
 They waited a few minutes, watching the hand- 
 some, swarthy people in their holiday attire, and 
 the clipped poodles drinking at the fountain where 
 their woolly wristers were sprayed. At last came 
 the welcome warning, " Ecco Regina ! " and the 
 brilliant scarlet liveries appeared. The gay car- 
 riage passed close to the Americans, and the 
 queen's kindly glance and gracious smile were 
 turned to the right and left as she bowed to the 
 uncovered little crowd. Her handsome, vivacious 
 face was framed in a profusion of fluffy golden 
 hair, upon which rested a bonnet of peai'l beads. 
 Beside her sat her mother, and both were chatting 
 and laughing in gay unconsciousness that this was 
 the last Easter drive of the well-loved sovereign. 
 
 That evening Edwina stood long on her balcony 
 watching a brilliant sun set behind the Villa 
 Medici. It was as if Rome were again on fire, 
 and she watched the flame turn to gold and fade 
 until the cypresses stood black against a primrose 
 sky. For a long time she lingered there, wrapped 
 in thought, unobservant of the change from twi- 
 light to moonlight until Miss Pritchard's voice 
 speaking to some one in the room attracted her at- 
 tention. The voice came nearer. 
 
 " Edwina, Mr. Champion is here." There was 
 a warning note in the announcement, explained 
 immediately by the fact that that personage came 
 treading upon the heels, as it were, of the speaker.
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 235 
 
 " I don't know how many this tiny balcony will 
 hold," said the girl, giving her hand to the new- 
 comer. 
 
 " I know it is cold for you to be standing here 
 without a wrap, my child. I did n't realize what 
 you were doing." 
 
 " I thought I might trespass," said Champion, 
 relinquishing the hand reluctantly, " since it is all 
 in the line of sight-seeing. I wondered if you had 
 visited the Colosseum by moonlight ? " 
 
 " No indeed, we have n't," returned Eunice. 
 " It is just the night for it ! " 
 
 " Remarkably fine. If I had been sure of such 
 an evening, I would have waited to bring those 
 tickets myself instead of sending them." 
 
 " It was very well that you sent them," said Ed- 
 wina. " Cousin Eunice has had just so many more 
 hours of peace of mind." 
 
 " We '11 get our things right on, Mr. Champion," 
 said Miss Pritchard eagerly. 
 
 "Very well; and I will call a cab." 
 
 Eunice had supped so full of horrors connected 
 with the Colosseum that an evening visit to it 
 filled her with weird fascination. There were few 
 tourists present to-night beside themselves, and she 
 wandered about the great interior clinging to 
 Champion's arm until her eyes became used to the 
 black shadows and the white moonlight. The three 
 sat down on an oblong rock at last and silently 
 gazed at the vast encircling walls. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's thoughts were busy with the
 
 236 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 beginning of the Christian era ; her companions' 
 with the present day and hour. Hers drove her 
 very soon to the railing which surrounds the exca- 
 vations in the centre of the amphitheatre. She 
 had before gazed into those suggestive depths where 
 wild beasts and their prey alike were once confined, 
 waiting to make sport for the populace. 
 
 Scarce had her light figure hurried away when 
 Champion took Edwina's hand, and she yielded it. 
 
 " It's true, dear ? " he said with eager appeal. 
 
 " Truth is stranger than fiction ! " called Miss 
 Pritchard from her stand by the railing. 
 
 At her voice Edwina started, and tried to with- 
 draw her hand. 
 
 " We are in shadow," said Champion as he held 
 it fast. " Don't be anxious. Why are you so 
 afraid, Edwina ? " 
 
 " Because it means so much to me," said the 
 girl, breathing fast. 
 
 " But she likes me." 
 
 " She would dislike you instantly if " 
 
 " Then is she to prevent me always " 
 
 " I think not. I have I have hopes ; but it 
 will be painful unless you are careful and do just 
 as I say." 
 
 " I am going to do that always,'' said Champion 
 with prompt rashness, " if you love me." 
 
 " Oh, she 's coming ! Be careful ! " 
 
 " Do you love me ? " 
 
 " Never mind." Edwina spoke low and in a 
 panic. " My father spoiled her life. I 've made
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 237 
 
 a vow to think of her first before anybody, even 
 before you. Be patient and trust me. Do as I 
 do. Promise me ! " 
 
 " Yes, if you will do as I do, and love with all 
 your heart. Do you Edwina ? " 
 
 "I I think so ; and I must have her full ap- 
 proval, or never be happy again " 
 
 This music to Champion's ears overpowered his 
 caution. He caught Edwina in his arms and 
 pressed his lips to hers. She shrank from him 
 and clung to him in the same breath ; then spring- 
 ing to her feet looked apprehensively toward her 
 cousin. 
 
 Miss Pritchard had changed her position, but 
 was again leaning over the railing. Champion, his 
 elbows on his knees, rested his pulsing temples in 
 his hands. Edwina moved away a short distance 
 to recover herself before strolling back slowly to- 
 ward Eunice. The moon stealing up past the 
 yawning windows was flooding the amphitheatre 
 with whiteness when the girl drew near her cousin. 
 She found her seated on a stone. 
 
 "Why cousin Eunice, what is the matter?" 
 she asked solicitously, for Miss Pritchard's face 
 was buried in her handkerchief. 
 
 " Oh Ned, Ned ! " exclaimed Eunice huskily. 
 She revealed her wet eyes, only to bury them 
 again. " To think it is n't made up, it is n't a 
 dream or anything like that, but it 's true it 's 
 true ! " 
 
 "What is, dear?" asked the girl fearfully,
 
 238 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 stooping and in her excitement ready to add her 
 tears to her cousin's. 
 
 " Those those martyrs ! Just because they 
 were faithful and self-denying, to think they were 
 given to the beasts in this very place ! And we 
 can have the heart to come and look and stare 
 around and take it calmly ! " 
 
 *' There is n't anything else to do, dear ! " re- 
 turned Edwina, putting her arms around the 
 other's small shaken form. " Don't cry, cousin 
 Eunice ; it hurts me dreadfully. I hardly ever saw 
 you cry in my life." 
 
 " I know it," sobbed the little woman. " I did 
 all my crying before ever you knew me, and it was 
 enough to last ; but now Ned now " 
 
 By this time Champion approached, and seeing 
 Eunice weeping, gave a startled look of inquiry at 
 Edwina. 
 
 The girl shook her head. " She began to think 
 about all the cruel things that went on here," she 
 explained, " and it overcame her. She is tired, 
 poor little cousin. We 've had such a busy week. 
 I 'm going to take her right home and put her to 
 bed. She never had any nerves before ; did you, 
 dear?" 
 
 Miss Pritchard's trembling was such that Edwina 
 feared it might mean a chill, and vague forebod- 
 ings of Roman fever shook her own nerves. 
 
 " I think it 's a very right thing to cry," moaned 
 Eunice. " It 's worse than a thousand cemeteries." 
 
 " Yes," returned Edwina, patting her and trying
 
 THE COLOSSEUM 239 
 
 to bring a smile to her face. " Mr. Remick ought 
 to come, ought he not ? He should be here in. 
 stead of you. You are like Miss Remick. You 
 remember she said that instead of cheering her, 
 cemeteries made her quite low."
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 THE POPE 
 
 Miss PRITCHARD looked tired and pale the next 
 day, but she stoutly denied the fact, and declared 
 herself ready for a trip to the Pantheon, hastening 
 her companion's preparations with undiminished 
 energy. As they entered the ancient church a 
 male quartette was singing, preparing for some 
 service. The effect was thrilling. Eunice and 
 Edwina stood still and listened, looking far up 
 through the opening overhead into the sky, feeling, 
 as Hilda did, that angels might pass and repass 
 across its circle. They lingered for a time beside 
 the famous tombs and then went on to the Forum. 
 
 The next day they went over the ruins on the 
 Palatine Hill, and the next to Hadrian's villa. In 
 vain Edwina protested her fear that her cousin 
 would overdo. Miss Pritchard laughed. " Non- 
 sense, child ! I '11 never cry again where you are. 
 You have treated me ever since Sunday evening as 
 if I were made of egg-shell china. This weather 
 is too perfect to lose. Moreover, it will make 
 Friday come quicker if we keep doing things." 
 
 Champion remained obediently invisible until 
 Thursday morning, when he presented himself at
 
 THE POPE 241 
 
 an early hour and asked for Miss Pritchard. She 
 answered his summons promptly. His face was 
 bright as he met her. " I think I have an oppor- 
 tunity for you," he said. " I discovered last even- 
 ing that Monsignor Baccelli is about to take a 
 party through the private rooms of the Vatican to- 
 day. He has given me permission to bring you 
 and Miss Wilder." 
 
 " That is an opportunity. How good ! Are we 
 to come now ? " 
 
 " At once, please." 
 
 " Very well. I will call Edwina." 
 
 When the three were in their cab driving to- 
 ward St. Peter's, Champion looked at Miss Pritch- 
 ard quizzically. " Have you repented frightening 
 us so the other evening at the Colosseum ? " 
 
 She made a quick little motion, averting her 
 head. " I don't like to talk about that." 
 
 " Cousin Eunice does n't weep often enough to 
 take it easily," remarked Edwina. 
 
 " Ah ? I thought a good cry was one of a wo- 
 man's greatest luxuries." 
 
 " Some women, perhaps. I shall never go inside 
 that Colosseum again," said Eunice shortly. 
 
 Edwina had supplemented her hasty interview 
 with her lover by a letter in which she anticipated the 
 impatience which he might now feel with the ob- 
 stacle to their happiness. She expressed fully her 
 tenderness of her cousin, her debt to her, her duty 
 to her. and her unalterable determination never to 
 oppose her in a serious matter. She endeavored
 
 242 MISS PEITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 to explain to him Miss Pritchard's standpoint, and 
 to enlist his sympathies for her. She told him 
 frankly that to gain Eunice's affection more and 
 more, going on as he had begun, was their best 
 hope ; and telling him that everything depended 
 on himself, she ended with a few gentle words of 
 affection which he immediately cut from the letter 
 and placed in his pocket book, from which he drew 
 them for perusal several times an hour. 
 
 To this wooing, then, he immediately gave re- 
 doubled attention. He had already been so as- 
 siduously kind to the guardian of his queen of the 
 rosebud garden of girls that it would be less no- 
 ticeable for him to continue his benefits than to 
 withdraw them and fume, as he should have been 
 likely to do but for Edwina's pacific and warning 
 letter. Their time in Rome was growing short, 
 and he had seized at this exceptional chance to do 
 Miss Pritchard a favor quite in the line of her 
 eager interest. 
 
 Arrived at the Vatican, the three joined the 
 small group of tourists with whom was Champion's 
 priestly friend. He introduced them to Monsignor 
 Baccelli, whose gentle, strong face lighted with 
 benevolent welcome, his beautiful eyes beaming 
 expressively as Eunice tried to compress into a 
 few words her gratitude for the tickets he had sent. 
 
 " I am glad," said Monsignor simply. " The 
 boy's friends are my friends." 
 
 " If Miranda could see us now ! " whispered 
 Miss Pritchard to Edwina as they climbed the first
 
 THE POPE 243 
 
 flight of stairs, following the long black coat and 
 flat beaver hat of the priest, before whom the 
 Swiss guards in their gay garb fell back, and im- 
 penetrable gates swung wide. 
 
 Edwina smiled. " I fancy Miranda would de- 
 velop a better judgment too," she answered. " I 
 think she would send you the keys of the apart- 
 ment at once." 
 
 "Just think! He lives here ! " said Eunice. 
 
 "And has space enough for a single man," sug- 
 gested Champion; "several thousand rooms." 
 
 " And never can even eat with anybody," added 
 Miss Pritchard, her eyes quite round from the in- 
 terest with which she followed the company into a 
 room hung with Gobelin tapestries. 
 
 The pilgrimage was a long one, up and down 
 interminable broad flights of marble stairs which 
 now replace the inclined planes up which the Popes 
 rode their horses. Sometimes they came out on a 
 balcony which overlooked one of the twenty-four 
 enormous courts around which the palace is built, 
 and where in days of old took place the races and 
 other sports which entertained the leisure hours of 
 the papal suite. 
 
 Once, before descending a flight of stairs, Mon- 
 signor put himself at the head of his party, his 
 finger on his lips. u Kindly do not speak until 
 we are down," he said. " We are about to pass 
 by the apartment of the Holy Father, and he might 
 be disturbed." 
 
 Amazingly exciting this to Miss Pritchard, who
 
 244 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 crept down like a small shadow and only took a 
 full breath when she had reached the foot. 
 
 Finally they were taken into the spacious gar- 
 dens of the palace, a large bit of country in the 
 heart of Rome which is invisible from the outside, 
 and which gives the lonely potentate his glimpses 
 of nature. Fountains, flowers, carefully kept walks 
 are there in abundance, but, also a forest, a wild- 
 wood on whose outskirts stands the villa which is 
 the Pope's summer house. 
 
 " We are always having something to thank you 
 for," said Miss Pritchard to Champion when finally 
 he put the weary ladies into a cab. 
 
 " And yet you will go away and leave me ! " he 
 responded humorously. 
 
 " I suppose we can't take you with us," she 
 replied, in the same tone. 
 
 Edwina, as her habit was when Champion was 
 with them, had kept a neutral silence when not 
 compelled to speak. 
 
 " But you are a luxury we did n't count on when 
 we came over," went on Eunice, " an extra, you 
 know. Edwina and I ai'e equal to all the neces- 
 sities alone, are n't we, Ned ? " 
 
 " Indeed we are, and content as the day is 
 long." 
 
 " You need n't emphasize it," said Champion, 
 with a comical shrug. " Would it be too much to 
 ask you to write to me occasionally, Miss Pritch- 
 ard ? I shall very much want to know where 
 you are and how you are getting on."
 
 THE POPE 245 
 
 " It is the least I can do," she returned ; " but 
 I 'm a sorry letter writer. Perhaps I can copy 
 one of Edwina's numerous epistles sometime." 
 
 She continued to look at him as the cab rolled 
 away, and he stood with lifted hat. Edwina re- 
 joiced in the liking she believed was in her eyes. 
 
 The next morning the two took an early break- 
 fast, and with their camp-stools mounted into a 
 cab and set off for St. Peter's. It was only half 
 past eight when they drove beneath the swaying 
 cloudy curtains of the great fountains. 
 
 " I don't like the looks of those Carabinieri," 
 remarked Edwina, observing the phalanx of sol- 
 diers that guarded the grand entrance to the 
 church. As their cab stopped as near as possible 
 to the steps, one of the Carabinieri approached, 
 and Edwina gathered only too clearly from his 
 words that the ever-open doors were closed this 
 morning until ten o'clock. 
 
 Making the best of the situation, they took their 
 camp-stools into the colonnade, clasping tightly the 
 precious pink tickets which were to allow them to 
 enter by the bronze door half an hour before the 
 crowd were admitted ; and here they gave them- 
 selves up to watching the marvelous variety of hu- 
 man beings which were already gathering from all 
 directions. The city was full of pilgrims. Sixteen 
 thousand had arrived a few days before. One met 
 them everywhere, this army of peasants, carry- 
 ing their bundles and patiently trudging the rounds 
 to pray at the seven basilicas. It seemed as if
 
 246 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 types of every sort of costume in Italy must be 
 represented. Picturesque headgear and massive 
 earrings sometimes adorned a full young face 
 whose long lashes shaded a peachy cheek, and 
 again a bright handkerchief surrounded the leath- 
 ery wrinkled visage of an old woman whose coarse, 
 bunchy skirt failed to reach the tops of her cumber- 
 some shoes. This morning a pretty girl in velvet 
 bodice and snowy chemisette lifted child-like eyes 
 to Edwina. 
 
 " American ? " she asked in a sweet voice. 
 
 " Yes," said Edwina. 
 
 " You give me money ? " 
 
 " No," replied the astonished girl. 
 
 " No ? " echoed the Italian with unruffled sweet- 
 ness, and moved away. It had evidently been her 
 experience that Americans existed only to bestow 
 money. 
 
 Four thousand of these pilgrims, whose presence 
 was the occasion of to-day's reception, were lodged 
 and fed in and about the Vatican. Great had been 
 the struggle for tickets, as Eunice and Edwina 
 
 oo 
 
 had been hearing all the week. 
 
 A crowd of lucky possessors of the pink slips 
 gathered during that hour in the colonnade, and 
 at last the guard stood back and the rush began. 
 Eunice and Edwina were well toward the front, 
 and the press was great toward the narrow aper- 
 ture where the tickets were examined. 
 
 Monsignor Baccelli had explained to them just 
 how the railings would be placed, between which
 
 THE POPE 247 
 
 the Saint Pere would be carried, and others beside 
 themselves were coveting the more favorable posi- 
 tions. Moreover, confusion was made by persons 
 whose tickets only admitted at the general doors, 
 coming to this one through misunderstanding. 
 They, pushing down while the others pushed up, 
 made the situation difficult, the more so that more 
 or less rage glowed in their breasts. One priest 
 who with his party had been sent back happened 
 to glare at Edwina. She now understood enough 
 Italian to gather that he was demanding to know 
 who issued their tickets. " Monsignor Baccelli," 
 she said ; and it was interesting to note the calm- 
 ing effect of the name on the irate priest. 
 
 A man in evening clothes and silk hat stood in- 
 side the rail gesturing soothingly over the seething 
 mass on the staircase and crying, " Piano ! piano ! " 
 to those detachments who were let through the 
 gate. But two Americans in that motley crowd 
 had not been pinched, and crushed, and bruised 
 with their camp-stools for nothing. Eunice and 
 Edwina fled into the empty, solemn church, out- 
 side which in the piazza a vast crowd was gath- 
 ering. The few hundreds who entered with them 
 made no impression on the spaces, and they suc- 
 ceeded in setting their camp-stools in the desired 
 angle of the railing. 
 
 They had brought books to read during the 
 hours of waiting ; but it was not a time for books. 
 The sacred avenue before them was filled with en- 
 tertaining notables ; Swiss Guards in their best and
 
 248 MISS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 brightest, army officers in various and handsome 
 uniforms, ushers in evening dress wearing orders 
 and medals, and Roman princes in black velvet 
 cavalier costume, with ruff, sword, and brilliant 
 buckles, wearing about their necks splendid gold 
 chains ending in the papal keys and crown. From 
 time to time dignitaries of the church were passed 
 up the avenue, arrayed in white, purple, and car- 
 dinal. Once a Russian grand duchess passed in 
 black trailing robes and veil, royally escorted by 
 the Swiss Guards. 
 
 " What would Miranda say ! " exclaimed Miss 
 Pritchard. 
 
 Now the great doors were opened, and fifty 
 thousand people flowed into the basilica. They 
 streamed across the distant spaces in black lines, 
 looking like ants. The pilgrims lined up against 
 the railings, and the multitude waited patiently, 
 most of them standing, until one hour had passed. 
 This was the appointed time, and expectation was 
 on tiptoe ; but another half -hour wore away, and 
 still the sea surged and the door into the Vatican 
 remained closed. Another fifteen minutes passed, 
 and a murmur arose and spread. The Pope was 
 coming. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's heart beat against her ribs in 
 surprising excitement. She tried to steady herself 
 with the repressive thought of Miranda. In vain, 
 for now the anticipated vision smote upon her 
 view. Twelve men in cardinal velvet brocade 
 bore velvet-covered poles on their shoulders. In
 
 THE POPE 249 
 
 the midst was the rich red throne anc! platform, 
 gorgeously encrusted with gold symbols, which 
 held the spirituel form of this adored being who 
 rules over three hundred million souls. 
 
 The multitude was swept as with a wind. 
 " Viva ! Viva ! Viva ! " burst forth as he went, 
 and in his wake the peasant pilgrims, with stream- 
 ing eyes, and arms crossed on their breasts, swayed 
 to and fro as if an angel had passed. In the thrill 
 of it one could not feel repugnance for the worship 
 of this sweet-faced man of ninety years, so pure 
 and perfect a picture he made. Clothed all in rich 
 ivory-white not whiter than his face, a cap of white, 
 white sash, and shoes embroidered in gold, white 
 mitts on his hands, below which gleamed the 
 famous emerald ring surrounded with brilliants as 
 he constantly raised the hand in blessing. From 
 time to time he lifted himself bodily from the 
 throne, the glowing background enhancing the 
 picture as he looked to this side and to that, his 
 delicate raised hand trembling visibly. The excite- 
 ment was intense. Women held up rosaries and 
 other objects to be blessed, and the cries increased 
 in fervor. 
 
 " It will kill him ! It will kill him ! " Eunice 
 was repeating. She leaned forward and tried to 
 watch as at last he was helped from his chair. 
 Waving off his supporting cardinals, he ascended 
 the steps of the high altar and conducted a service. 
 Eunice and Edwina waited another hour, listening 
 to the responses of the rough peasant voices, and
 
 250 3/156' PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 then with the same pomp and circumstance, Leo 
 XIII. was brought back. Loud, loving, inspiring 
 were the " Vivas ! " that continued while he was in 
 sight, and bravely the old man acknowledged them 
 with benediction. At last, when his cavalcade had 
 turned and nearly reached the door to his palace, 
 he sank back in his chair and pressed his handker- 
 chief to his lips. 
 
 " Will he ever be able to do this again ? " ex- 
 claimed Edwina, as the crowd began to move. 
 
 " I don't know," returned Eunice, her thin 
 cheeks scarlet ; " but we have seen the Pope ! "
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 
 
 UNDER the influence of another note which 
 Edwina sent to Champion's hotel, his manner in 
 seeing them off at the station in Rome was such 
 that the last glance she gave him was one warm 
 with gratitude and appreciation of his self-control. 
 Her anxiety lest he betray himself to Miss Pritch- 
 ard's unsuspicious eyes had been so keen that 
 she had not had space to realize her own share of 
 the pang of parting until the train was fairly started 
 for Naples. Then she sat and looked out of the 
 window for so long a period of silence that Eunice, 
 sitting opposite, leaned forward. 
 
 " You have n't a headache, I hope, Ned ? " 
 
 Had Miss Pritchard comprehended the situation, 
 she must have been touched by the reassuring 
 brightness that overspread her child's face. 
 
 " I find I am tired after all," answered Edwina, 
 " and I think it 's a little mournful leaving Rome, 
 don't you ? " 
 
 " Well, you just take a good rest now. Lean 
 back in that corner and shut your eyes." 
 
 The girl obeyed thankfully. It is sometimes 
 such a priceless privilege to be left to one's own
 
 252 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 thoughts. Edwina's were so tenderly reminiscent 
 that she quickly made them disciplinary. She 
 recognized the danger that henceforth she would 
 see all beauty merely as a background for one fig- 
 ure, and would lose the value of these sunny Italian 
 days in wishing them to hurry by and bring nearer 
 the time when she and her lover could meet again. 
 She lifted her eyelids sufficiently to look at her 
 cousin. Eunice was gazing from the opposite 
 window with a serious, almost sad preoccupation. 
 Edwina knew that the little woman could not read, 
 and would in fact suspend all activity until she 
 herself showed her customary animation. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's patient dependence might well 
 have irritated her in her present mood ; but the 
 girl loyally resisted the sensation. The look in 
 the gentle eyes only reinforced her determination 
 that neither lover nor any lesser influence should 
 cloud her little guardian's wedding trip. There 
 were but four months left. They should be en- 
 tirely devoted to fulfilling every expectation that 
 Eunice had formed. 
 
 One of these was visiting the Aquarium at 
 Naples, so on the first morning of their few days 
 in that city they turned their steps to the long 
 park bordering the lovely bay, and left the daylight 
 to go down among the dwellers in the sea. All 
 the joys of the Water Babies suggested themselves 
 to our travelers as they stood before the crystal 
 tanks lighted from above. In one were a number 
 of those fluted bivalves which one usually sees
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 258 
 
 filled with velvet and stuck full of pins. Here 
 they were alive, and performing such wonderful 
 and airy acts that the visitors could scarcely be- 
 lieve their eyes. They flew through the water 
 with the lightness of butterflies, their shells open- 
 ing and closing swiftly like wings, while about 
 them were the sentimental little sea-horses with 
 their heads on one side, gazing at each other as if 
 in a trance. One tank looked like a florist's win- 
 dow with flowers of intense colors, chrysanthemums 
 and dahlias, living and glowing. Another was 
 like a milliner's exhibit, with great variety of 
 feathers and fringes all alive. The jeweler's win- 
 dow was rich in a variety of corals. All sorts of 
 creatures, from the ugly cuttle-fish hiding himself 
 in an inky cloud to the scaly beauty whose sides 
 were an iridescent rainbow, were to be studied 
 there, and Eunice and Edwina lingered for hours. 
 
 At their hotel they met a young American from 
 the West who had just landed, and who eagerly 
 made excuse to get into conversation with them 
 one afternoon in the writing-room. 
 
 " You have but just arrived ? " repeated Miss 
 Pritchard kindly when he had made that fact 
 known. 
 
 The interest and wistfulness in his eyes appealed 
 to her, seasoned traveler that she felt herself to 
 be. 
 
 " Yes, I made up my mind it was the right time 
 to come over. I 'd struck a run of good luck and 
 could afford it ; but I 'm not a bit prepared for
 
 254 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 what I 'm going to see, and that 's a big handicap. 
 For instance, I don't know a thing about art. 
 When I 'm in Rome, if I should run right up 
 against Mr. Milo's Venus, I shouldn't know it. 
 Never saw a copy that I know of. I might walk 
 right past it and never be a bit the wiser." 
 
 There was a frank simplicity in the young fel- 
 low's manner that touched his listeners. They 
 told him that Mr. Milo did not create the Venus 
 so far as any one knows, and told him where to 
 find it, and Edwina showed him Baedeker and ex- 
 plained to him how to delve for its facts. He lis- 
 tened gratefully to all they had to say, and appeared 
 to anticipate with less doubt the novel experiences 
 before him. Later, in the same room, his new 
 friends were amused to observe a little incident 
 that still further exhibited the young fellow's 
 strangeness to his surroundings. A Frenchwoman 
 wished to use the pen, and the young American, 
 lingering idly at the writing-table, was in her way. 
 She fluttered up to him and said volubly : "Par- 
 don ! Voulez-vous avoir la bonte de me passer la 
 plume f " 
 
 The American raised his eyebrows and started 
 back with a candid gesture. "You can search 
 me / " he responded emphatically. 
 
 Eunice and Edwina did not remain long in 
 Naples. The cabmen frightened them, the squalor 
 repulsed them. One bright morning they were 
 rowed out to the steamer Nixe, which was to take 
 them to Capri. Vesuvius was smoking pensively,
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 255 
 
 the gray vapor falling and trailing down the moun- 
 tain side, and the passengers all stood on the deck 
 looking back at Naples on its splendid curve, the 
 hills full of foliage, and the gray arches. 
 
 " Good riddance to those brigandish cabmen ! " 
 said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " And to their poor little bedecked ponies with 
 the outriggers each side of their noses," added 
 Edwina. 
 
 But Miss Pritchard had not long to dwell upon 
 the gaudy fringes and brass ornaments of the 
 Neapolitan ponies. The Mediterranean again 
 proved inhospitable, and all poetry was speedily 
 taken out of " sailing the Vesuvian bay." By 
 the time Capri was reached Eunice was in no 
 mood for pursuing the excursion as the other pas- 
 sengers were about to do, to the Blue Grotto. 
 
 " We shall be here several days. Surely we can 
 go into it any time," she said, and Edwina agreed. 
 So they stepped into the small boat which had 
 come out from the Marina Grande to meet them ; 
 and this in itself was not too easy, for the sea was 
 rough and they were obliged to wait until the boat 
 rose to the top of the wave, as in the watery valley 
 it was impossible to reach it. Edwina had just 
 succeeded in assisting her cousin to enter safely 
 when above the beating of the waves she heard a 
 familiar voice. 
 
 " I can't think, Edward, how I can ever do it ! " 
 
 " Drop, I tell you ! Take that man's hand. 
 Don't be all day about it ! "
 
 256 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 It was indeed the Eeraicks, and Miss Remick 
 literally and involuntarily fell upon Eunice in a 
 hysterical mixture of joy and fright. 
 
 " Who would ever have thought it ! " she cried 
 gladly. 
 
 " Humph ! " grunted her brother, giving a life- 
 less hand to the Americans. " It seems we are n't 
 the only fools in the world ! " 
 
 " I 'm sure the crossing was very different to 
 what it usually is," said Miss Remick apologeti- 
 cally. 
 
 " And very like our trip to St. Honorat," added 
 Edwina, smiling at her sudden conceit that this 
 southern sea objected to carrying the Remicks. 
 
 The Englishman folded his hands on his um- 
 brella handle and rested his chin upon them. 
 " When people voluntarily go in for this sort of 
 thing, they don't deserve any sympathy," he re- 
 marked to the gray wall of rock toward which the 
 boatmen began to pull. 
 
 " But I 've always been so keen to see Capri," 
 said his sister, looking from one American to the 
 other for support. 
 
 " It would n't do to be so near as Naples with- 
 out coming over, certainly," said Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " The Blue Grotto is the chief feature," growled 
 Mr. Remick. " You would n't go to it." 
 
 " But, Edward, I was too ill, was n't I ? And 
 we can go some other day, can't we ? " 
 
 " Go if you like. I shan't. My word ! Some 
 people must always make two bites of a cherry."
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 257 
 
 Miss Remick's large face was grieved as that 
 of a child, and she looked for comfort toward Ed- 
 wina, who nodded. " We are going some day," 
 said the girl, and the Englishwoman slowly smiled. 
 
 At the Marina Grande there was the usual press 
 of more or less picturesque peasant women who 
 seized upon all portable luggage, dividing it to 
 carry to the carriage in order to present as many 
 claims for centesimi as possible. Edwina could 
 not avoid noticing how satisfied they were with 
 Mr. Remick's largess, while they chattered resent- 
 fully at the increased quantity she bestowed. Some 
 means of concealing our nationality would be much 
 money in the traveling American's pocket. 
 
 Mr. Remick's voice seemed especially fitted to 
 exclaim " Via ! " in a manner to enforce obedience, 
 and he soon cleared away the group of beggars 
 and the carriage started. Upward it wound for 
 half an hour, three of the tourists happy in the 
 view of the bay, and the fourth looking straight 
 before him. 
 
 " Have you decided on your hotel, Mr. Rem- 
 ick?" asked Edwina. 
 
 " Faraglioni. Always go there. The table 's 
 beastly." 
 
 " Me brother 's bean here again and again," said 
 Miss Remick. " It suits his tubes, and so he 
 thought he 'd bring me over this time." 
 
 " Well, I don't think I '11 try that hotel on your 
 recommendation," laughed Edwina. 
 
 " I never recommend a hotel," returned their 
 amiable escort.
 
 258 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Then I see it is of no use to catechise you," 
 said the girl. She was glad not to be the invalid's 
 sister, but she had some compassion on his mood 
 after several hours spent with Miss Remick in a 
 seasick condition. 
 
 Their carriage at last drew up in the stone-paved 
 square from which footpaths lead to the villas, 
 hotels, and pensions of the village. Saying "Au 
 revoir" to the Remicks, Eunice and Edwina set 
 off for one of the latter to which they had been re- 
 commended as a place where English was spoken. 
 Its garden was attractive, and it was a disappoint- 
 ment to the travelers when the proprietor, a dapper 
 little Italian with the air of a dancing master, 
 shook his head and gestured deprecatingly when 
 they requested two single rooms. 
 
 " In my dependencies I have them," he added, 
 with a graceful, vague wave of the hand. 
 
 " At some distance, I suppose," said Miss Pritch- 
 ard. " We should have to come here to meals." 
 Her voice betrayed doubt. 
 
 " Ah ! " His finger flew with a dramatic gesture 
 to his lip ; " but wait. This is weather. In the 
 morning my servant carries your breakfast to you. 
 For lunch and dinner I must ask" an apolo- 
 getic outspreading of hands finished. 
 
 The ladies murmured dissent. Again the per- 
 suasive finger flew to his lip. " Ha, listen ! If it 
 were Jenooary you would say to me, ' Giovanni, we 
 cannot ! ' But look ! It is weather ! " 
 
 It was. One could not deny it while the azure
 
 THE BLUE GEOTTO 259 
 
 bathed the white corners of the villas and dyed the 
 bounding sea. Nevertheless they said " Giovanni, 
 we cannot," and reluctantly departed. 
 
 " If you don't mind the Remicks I '11 try the 
 Faraglioni. Mr. Remick's familiarity here will 
 be some help to us." 
 
 " Well, I suppose we shall live outdoors mainly, 
 and it will be only a few days." 
 
 So to the Faraglioni they climbed through the 
 narrow winding paths, and after one glimpse of 
 the rambling old villa with its ancient garden 
 where the roses clamber over white arbors and 
 around pillars, a whole regiment of Remicks could 
 not have discouraged them. 
 
 The only drawback to Italian gardens for Miss 
 Pritchard were the numerous lizards. Her innate 
 repugnance to those little creatures, whose bird- 
 like heads seem wrongfully fettered to reptile 
 bodies, was too strong to be overcome ; and she de- 
 clined to sit under the trellises unless Edwina was 
 by as bodyguard ; but thus protected she could see 
 the small creatures slip over the low white wall 
 or sun themselves on the baked stones, without 
 fear. 
 
 Two days later the sea had quieted, and as they 
 felt that Miss Remick was keeping an eye upon 
 their movements with the Blue Grotto in view, 
 Edwina suggested that they should not postpone 
 the trip. 
 
 " Yes, let 's get it over," sighed Miss Pritchard. 
 " It will be almost as bad as the Catacombs."
 
 260 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " And no Mr. Champion to call upon ! " said 
 Edwina. 
 
 " No. He is out of the question now." 
 
 " But what is there that you dread about it ? " 
 asked the girl. 
 
 " Why, what should I but the water that 
 wretched, humpy old ocean that never will keep 
 still!" 
 
 " Oh ! " Edwina said no more, but her own ap- 
 prehensions were acute, although of a different 
 nature. Her experiences with extortionate cabmen 
 in Naples made her exceedingly shy, in her igno- 
 rance of the language, of risking similar unplea- 
 santness in a small boat on the water ; but she 
 refrained from putting these fears into her com- 
 panions' heads. 
 
 Miss Remick responded gladly to Edwina's 
 invitation. " Me brother will go for a walk in- 
 stead," she said ; and indeed he left the hotel with 
 them, and bidding them a curt farewell, took his 
 way along the brow of the hill toward the Fara- 
 glioni rocks. Edwina knew how he would sit there, 
 his hands crossed on his stick, looking before him 
 as unmindful of the lavish wild flowers swinging 
 their bells at his feet as of the rush of waters around 
 the massive rock formations. She would have pre- 
 ferred to go with him and force these beauties upon 
 his attention rather than to engineer the present 
 expedition ; but chiding herself for cowardice, she 
 cheerfully led her companions through the wind- 
 ings of one of the narrow walled lanes which in
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 261 
 
 Capri do service for streets. Occasionally they 
 met goats or a donkey, and as frequently a bun- 
 dle of rags inclosing a beggar lay in their path. 
 
 Arrived at the piazza, they took a carriage to 
 descend to the Marina. It was an ideal morning. 
 The zigzag road leading farther up the mountain 
 to the village of Anacapri looked alluring. Ed win a 
 smiled at her own reluctance. Everything seemed 
 more attractive to her this morning than the Ma- 
 rina and its boatmen, with the lonely row of three- 
 quarters of an hour in prospect. 
 
 " The sea looks quite calm, does n't it ? " said 
 Miss Remick, when they had arrived and were 
 walking out on the dock. 
 
 "There are the Carabinieri twins, Edwina," 
 said Miss Pritchard, glancing towai'd the inevitable 
 pair of soldiers. " Can't they help you ? " for she 
 noticed that the girl was looking about undecidedly. 
 
 "They never know any French," was the de- 
 spondent reply. " I never could see that they did 
 anything but look pretty." 
 
 " Have you remarked how everything in Italy 
 seems to be in pairs ? " said Miss Remick, " espe- 
 cially in Rome? Of course, there's Romulus and 
 Remus, and Castor and Pollux, then the Carabi- 
 nieri and I hope it 's not wicked to say so, but 
 there 's Peter and Paul everywhere." 
 
 Edwina's eyes were busily searching for the 
 least brigandish countenance observable among 
 the boatmen. The scowling, swarthy faces under 
 the slouched caps were not encouraging. Just as
 
 262 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 her doubt was at its height a boat drew up to the 
 platform out of which stepped a lady and gentle- 
 man. One of the rowers was of a different and 
 attractive type. Impulsively Edwina accosted the 
 lady in French. The stranger's command of the 
 language was even less than her own, but she 
 managed to learn that they had visited the Grotto 
 and that they liked their boatman. 
 
 " What should one pay them ? " asked the girl 
 anxiously. 
 
 Unnoticed, the handsome young boatman who 
 had attracted Edwina's attention had drawn near 
 and was openly listening. As the lady had diffi- 
 culty in formulating her reply, he interposed 
 modestly with an easy bow and replied for her. 
 
 " Vous parlez franpais I " exclaimed Edwina in 
 glad surprise. 
 
 " Yes, Mademoiselle." 
 
 " And English ! " more joyously. The Italian's 
 bright eyes and teeth gleamed with pleasure. 
 
 " Yes," he answered simply. 
 
 Volubly then the girl explained in her own dear 
 native tongue that she could not speak Italian, and 
 therefore did not know how to make her arrange- 
 ments to go to the Blue Grotto. 
 
 " I will take care of you," said the young fellow. 
 
 He helped the ladies into the boat ; but Edwina 
 observed signs that raised her doubts. 
 
 " Are n't you coming with us ? " 
 
 " I have just returned. I am not allowed. The 
 others, they must take you."
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 263 
 
 Promptly Edwina rose. " Then I 'm not going. 
 I 'd rather wait till to-morrow than not go with 
 you." 
 
 The sailor looked surprised. " Thank you, 
 Madame ! " 
 
 " I tell you I can't speak Italian ; but perhaps 
 you are tired," for the dew was on the boy's broad 
 forehead. 
 
 He made an expressive gesture of scorn. " I 
 could row around the island ; but I am not allowed. 
 Wait, I ask." 
 
 Turning, he spoke to the padrone, who was 
 watching and frowning questioningly. At last the 
 boatman turned back to Edwina. " He allows if 
 you pay me extra." 
 
 " How much ? " 
 
 He shrugged his shoulder. "Whatever you 
 like." 
 
 " Very well. Come then. What is your name ? " 
 
 " Luigi." 
 
 The second boatman was barefooted and rough 
 and stood behind Luigi, who in his canvas shoes 
 and the pink shirt that fitted his broad shoulders 
 looked like a young prince beside his fellows. The 
 three ladies sat in the end of the boat, Luigi facing 
 them, every movement full of grace as often during 
 his talk he removed one brown hand from the long 
 oar in the necessity for gesture. A few questions 
 were all that were needed to set him to talking easily 
 in a reposeful fashion. He had just served his time 
 in the navy and was doing this work temporarily
 
 264 MISS PRITCBARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 until he could find some business to settle upon. 
 Military discipline explained the phenomena of 
 his immaculate teeth and hands, and the muscular 
 development of his shoulders and chest. With 
 flashing looks and smiles he entertained his pas- 
 sengers with his biography. He was twenty-two 
 years of age, and was one of eleven children, of 
 whom " only the biggest was dead." 
 
 " I do not like this work. I wish to go England, 
 yes ; but I cannot go until I arrange my moth-er." 
 
 " With so many brothers and sisters, can't some- 
 one else take care of her ? " asked Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " They are all mar-ri-ed but me. My brother 
 Pietro mar-ri-ed a girl from Germania, and she 
 died and remained two little boys. Yes. They 
 are in Capri. Yes." 
 
 " But how did you happen to talk English ? " 
 
 " A lady from Boston who is the master of a 
 school was in Capri many summers. She buy me 
 books and teach me. She had me to make prome- 
 nades with her and correct me, yes." 
 
 That lingering, musical " yes " with which the 
 speaker adorned his statements was one of the 
 special charms which were swiftly and surely cap- 
 turing his audience. Evidently it was usual for 
 Luigi to find his way to the feminine heart. He 
 proceeded to relate instances of kindness toward 
 himself on the part of his officer's wife. She had 
 used her influence to get him excused from a por- 
 tion of his time of service, and on parting had 
 " made him a gold pin !
 
 THE BLUE GEOTTO 265 
 
 Altogether this young spirit of Italy was one of 
 those beings who occasionally give one patience 
 with the romantic novelist's inventions. Miss 
 Pritchard said afterward that even despite his care- 
 ful arrangement of cushions at her back she held 
 out very well against him until he took from his 
 pocket a snow-white handkerchief to wipe his 
 streaming brow. This crowning touch of clean- 
 liness in Southern Italy caused her to capitulate 
 wholly. She leaned toward Edwina and whispered : 
 " I want to send his mother a present." 
 
 The heavy boat slid through the intensely blue 
 water, beneath sheer gray crags hundreds of feet 
 in height. Vesuvius wore a soft bouquet of smoke. 
 There was only a light breeze, so neither Miss 
 Remick nor Miss Pritchard felt any drawback to 
 the trip, while Edwina, relieved of her vague 
 terrors, leaned back in her place and gave herself 
 up to enjoyment. In their ignorance they had 
 supposed that this boat could take them inside the 
 Grotto ; but when they reached its low arch, a 
 couple of small skiffs approached to take them 
 aboard. Miss Remick begged to be allowed to 
 have a companion in the enterprise ; so she and 
 Miss Pritchard, with Luigi's assistance, entered 
 one of the small boats and Edwina the other. 
 
 " I do believe we 've to lie down in this," 
 said Miss Remick, appalled. 
 
 "Yes, Madame," said Luigi. 
 
 Laboriously the Englishwoman abased her portly 
 person, while slim little Eunice easily followed her
 
 266 MISS PRITCHABD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 example, though inwardly she was as agitated as 
 the unquiet water which here restlessly rose and 
 fell against the rock. 
 
 " How ever can we get through such a tiny 
 place ? " exclaimed Miss Remick, lifting her head 
 to gaze again upon the low arch which at the ris- 
 ing wave was almost completely hidden. 
 
 Miss Pritchard's head next came appprehensively 
 above the gunwale. " Ned, do you think we 'd 
 better try it ? " she called. " The waves are so 
 big, really this is enough to see, and it 's against 
 my better " 
 
 " A has ! " warned her boatman, whose swarthy 
 face was scowling. 
 
 As this exclamation only made Miss Pritchard 
 struggle up higher, Miss Remick cried warningly ! 
 
 " Down ! he says, down ! We '11 be dashed 
 against the rock ! " 
 
 Eunice ducked and closed her eyes, prepared for 
 any fate. The beautiful malicious waves were 
 tossing their little cockle shell, and Miss Remick 
 was murmuring broken ejaculations as to Edward 
 and the pity it was that he was n't here to protect 
 them, although his tubes never would permit him 
 to lie so flat, when the boatman pushed near the 
 arch and, taking advantage of the dropping of the 
 wave, seized the rope and with a vigorous pull shot 
 their little craft out of the bright sunshine into 
 the dusky Grotto. 
 
 Eunice opened her eyes at the jerk and peered 
 around in surprise. Like many another, she had
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 267 
 
 viewed the vivid blue pictures of this curious spot 
 until her expectation had been of being ushered 
 into the heart of a transparent turquoise. Instead, 
 from the sudden contrast with the outer world, all 
 was blackness except the quivering light in the 
 water. A minute's stay accustomed the eyes, and 
 then that translucent, liquid, silvery blue in which 
 their boat floated grew wonderful to see, and grad- 
 ually the stalactites of the arching roof became 
 perceptible. 
 
 When Edwina's boat came in they talked to one 
 another, and their voices resounded and reechoed 
 strangely. After paddling about aimlessly for a 
 minute or two, Miss Remick's boatman called at- 
 tention to the boys in white bathing dress who stood 
 on a rock ready to dive for the consideration of a 
 lira. He spoke in French, and Miss Remick in- 
 formed him that she had no money. He persisted, 
 and she replied, " Mademoiselle a 1'argong," so 
 the interest of both the sailors became centred 
 in Edwina. Her boatman explained to her also 
 in French about the boys, and insisted, in spite of 
 the girl's declaration that she did not care to see 
 the swimming, that she give them a lira. 
 
 Apparently he was determined not to move un- 
 til she complied. There was no one in the echoing 
 grotto but themselves. They were absolutely help- 
 less to get out until their boatmen should elect. 
 The girl congratulated herself that outside in the 
 sunshine waited Luigi, a link to the world. She 
 gave one look at the descendant of pirates, who was
 
 268 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 determined upon money, and then took out her 
 purse. It happened to be the one containing paper, 
 so she then found her coin purse and, taking there- 
 from a lira, she threw it into the water, supposing 
 that the boys wished to dive for it as they had 
 done in the harbor at Naples. But the boatman 
 volubly explained that that was impossible here. 
 She must hand the boy a lira, and then he would 
 swim. When she had found a second coin and 
 complied, he turned his boat in such a manner as 
 to cut off the view of Miss Pritchard and Miss 
 Remick, saying that as they had paid nothing they 
 must not see. They did not complain, their chief 
 and only anxiety being to get out of this watery 
 dungeon with its quivering lights and robber crew. 
 
 The short swim concluded, a few more minutes 
 were passed in viewing the wonderful lights, and 
 then the party expressed their wish to leave the 
 Grotto. Miss Pritchard's boatman, having slight 
 interest in his moneyless passengers, obediently 
 turned toward the entrance, and they felt a certain 
 relief in his lazy obedience, as if he might have 
 been expected to decline ; and their boat was 
 nearly ready to shoot beneath the arch when a cry 
 from Edwina resounded through the cavern. She 
 had asked her sailor to follow the others, and in- 
 stead of doing so he had begun to row toward a 
 remote and dark corner at the opposite side of the 
 Grotto. Edwina trembled in every limb with vague 
 terror. Wait, wait, cousin Eunice ! " she shouted. 
 
 ''Courage, Mademoiselle, ayez courage" said 
 her boatman in a low voice.
 
 THE BLUE GROTTO 269 
 
 Miss Pritchard turned with a start at her child's 
 cry. " Tell him to wait tell him to stop ! " she 
 said to Miss Remick. 
 
 " Arretez I arretez I " cried the latter, and their 
 man paused. 
 
 Even then Edwina's boatman persisted in his 
 course. In still greater fright she called to her 
 cousin, and again her boatman exhorted, " Cou- 
 rage, Mademoiselle, courage" 
 
 Miss Pritchard began crying, " Edwina, come ! 
 Come at once ! " So the sailor turned, and observ- 
 ing that the other boat was waiting, and hearing 
 the frantic cries, he abandoned whatever designs 
 he may have had to draw something more from 
 those two attractive purses of Mademoiselle, and 
 at last followed the other boat. Once again they 
 all regained the light of day, and Luigi's white 
 cap and pink shirt formed a welcome landmark in 
 the blue. His reposeful speech sounded more than 
 ever musical as he helped his passengers back into 
 the large boat. 
 
 Edwina was so much shaken that her hands 
 trembled almost uncontrollably as she opened her 
 purse to pay the Grotto boatmen, who watched her 
 every movement greedily. She knew that she 
 should break down if she made any comment on 
 the fright the man had given her, so she merely 
 paid them and added a generous pour boire, the 
 quicker to escape their neighborhood : but her 
 tactics were unsuccessful. A storm of dissatisfied 
 Italian broke from her own boatman, though the 
 other was silent.
 
 270 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " Supposing now that we had come with common 
 sailors only," she said to herself. 
 
 She looked at Luigi, who immediately came 
 forward. " What did you give him ? " he asked, 
 and the girl told him. 
 
 Luigi nodded and shrugged ; the man still chat- 
 tered. " Give him ten centesimi," he said, and 
 Edwina obeyed. Luigi laughed at the voluble 
 sailor, and as he pushed away chaffed him with a 
 fun that was careless of the dark looks cast after 
 their retreating boat. 
 
 By common consent the ladies did not refer to 
 anything disagreeable on the homeward way. 
 They preferred to ask Luigi about his mother 
 and the little tobacco shop which he said she prayed 
 to be allowed to keep, for she should be sick if they 
 would not allow her to work. The Grotto boatman 
 would have liked the coin Miss Pritchard sent that 
 moth-er. Luigi pronounced the first syllable as 
 if it were the word moth. And the padrone was 
 satisfied with Edwina's reward for allowing Luigi 
 to go with them. There are some benefits for 
 which money cannot pay.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 FLYING TRIPS 
 
 WHEN Miss Eemick that night related to her 
 brother the experiences of their excursion, Edwina 
 expected the latter to utter some harsh reproach. 
 Instead he turned and looked squarely at her, con- 
 trary to custom. 
 
 " My word ! I 'd like to have been there," he 
 said threateningly. 
 
 " No doubt a man's presence would have altered 
 their behavior," she answered. 
 
 " It was so unfortunate that I had to prevent 
 our going with the large company the day we ar- 
 rived," said Miss Pritchard, who shuddered every 
 time she remembered Edwina's cry in the Grotto. 
 
 " Oh, ' All 's well that ends well,' " said the girl, 
 who nevertheless expected to dream of the episode. 
 " We 've seen the Blue Grotto and Luigi ! " 
 
 " That nice clean boy ! " exclaimed Eunice 
 pensively. " He was the only thing that kept me 
 from jumping overboard when I saw that rascal 
 rowing off with you in the black distance." 
 
 " I would like to know what he had in his mind," 
 said Edwina. " Luigi laughed at him and teased 
 him as if he were n't anybody to be afraid of."
 
 272 MISS PKITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Oh, it was only some form of begging he was 
 after," growled Mr. Remick, " but deuced unplea- 
 sant. My word ! I 'd like the kicking of him ! " 
 
 A few days at Capri, intoxicating rambles among 
 the rocks and wild flowers, an excursion by don- 
 keys to the palace of Tiberius, during which the 
 Remicks' "walk [or rather, ride] and conversa- 
 tion " nearly incapacitated their American friends 
 from sitting their animals, and then the party left 
 the mountain island. Luigi was on the dock at 
 the hour of their departure and went out with them 
 in the small boat to the Nixe, and helped carry 
 their luggage on board. Their kindness and in- 
 terest had won his heart, and the more they saw 
 of the simple dignity and natural charm of his 
 manner, the more he pleased them. 
 
 " I would like to go away, yes," he said as they 
 all stood together on the deck of the large steamer. 
 " It is nothing for me in Capri ; but I have not 
 yet arranged my moth-er. She send her thanks 
 a great deal to the lady." He brought his heels 
 together and took off his cap to Eunice. 
 
 " You must say good-by to her for us," returned 
 Miss Pritchard. " Here is an envelope with my 
 name and address, Luigi, and Miss Wilder will 
 give you one of hers, so you will not forget us, for 
 we shall remember you with a great deal of plea- 
 sure." 
 
 The Italian's olive cheek flushed and he bowed 
 low again, then took from his pocket his card. It 
 read "Sabelli Luigi," and he added the address:
 
 FLYING TRIPS 273 
 
 " Marina Grande, Isola di Capri," and handed it 
 to Miss Pritchard, but looked at Edwina. 
 
 While the five stood thus, another small boat 
 approached the steamer. 
 
 " It is the Grand Duke, yes," said Luigi ; and 
 the eyes of the party became fixed on the approach- 
 ing craft. They had seen the Duke of Hesse sev- 
 eral times during the last few days, his Highness' 
 villa being near the Faraglioni. " I knew that 
 they go to-day. I like go to England. The Grand 
 Duke would take me in his suite, but I could not." 
 
 The boat drew near. It was half-full of roses, 
 and among the blossoms sat the Duke and Duchess, 
 a wholesome, attractive young couple, with the lit- 
 tle Princess Elizabeth and various of their suite. 
 They entered the steamer by a passage opposite 
 the one employed for the general tuaveler, and re- 
 paired to a portion of the upper deck which had 
 been railed off for them. 
 
 " You have had something to do for the Duke, 
 then ? " said Mr. Remick to the Italian. 
 
 " I row his boat, yes." 
 
 Miss Remick eagerly asked Luigi to verify the 
 chief members of the party, who interested her no 
 more than they did the Americans. Edwina while 
 on the island had been told how carefully consid- 
 eration for the feelings of others had been instilled 
 by her parents into the little five-year-old princess, 
 whose nurse took her one day to visit at some 
 house where the child played a while with a cat. 
 When they came away the little girl put her hand
 
 274 MISS PBITCHARiyS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 to her temple, where a deep scratch from a claw 
 was bleeding. " Why did n't you tell me the cat 
 had hurt you ? " asked the nurse anxiously. " I 
 couldn't without their hearing me," replied the 
 little princess, for whom noblesse oblige already 
 had a meaning. 
 
 Luigi replied courteously to all the questions of 
 the travelers concerning the ducal party, one of 
 whom was a tall Englishman who was the Duke's 
 constant companion. This individual caught 
 sight of Luigi, and immediately advanced to him. 
 The travelers retreated to their seats ; the Italian 
 brought his heels together and removed his cap. 
 
 " Well, we 're off," said the personage heartily, 
 after exchanging greetings. 
 
 "Is the Grand Duke glad to go ? " 
 
 " No indeed ; he 's sorry. We 're all sorry. We 
 may come back in August. Shall you be here 
 then?" 
 
 " I do not know." 
 
 " Do you think of going away before that time ? " 
 
 " I cannot tell." 
 
 " Shall you stay in Capri for a while, any way ? " 
 
 " I cannot say." 
 
 The catechism proceeded for some time, to the 
 amusement of the Americans ; the repose and sim- 
 plicity of Luigi's manner seeming unchangeable by 
 circumstances. Evidently the boy's charm had 
 worked in this case also, for the great man of a 
 great man shook hands with him cordially at part- 
 ing, and then Luigi returned to the Americans.
 
 FLYING TRIPS 275 
 
 Edwina asked him concerning some of the street 
 songs she had been hearing, and he told her about 
 them, meanwhile looking from time to time to 
 see if the last boat were ready to return to the 
 Marina. 
 
 Mr. Remick gave the word at last. "Now, 
 then, Luigi, unless you wish to go to Sorrento." 
 
 The Italian, his cap off, shook hands with his 
 friends, and springing to the stairway, slid and 
 vaulted over the rail and dropped into the small 
 boat, more like a bit of thistledown than a man. 
 
 " My word ! The boy 's half -monkey ! " said 
 Mr. Remick. 
 
 " No," laughed Eunice. " Only wholly sailor." 
 She and Edwina let their handkerchiefs float to- 
 ward the upright figure in the boat, who was wav- 
 ing one to them as white as that which had origi- 
 nally won Eunice's heart. 
 
 " That young man has associated all his life with 
 nice people," declared Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " Humph ! " responded Mr. Remick. " If every 
 woman who comes to Capri takes a hand in spoil- 
 ing him, that modest air of his won't last long." 
 
 Arrived at Sorrento, it was a strange sight to 
 see the peasant women carry trunks on their heads 
 up the cliff side, the flights of hundreds of steps 
 proving severe exertion to unladen tourists. The 
 hotel our travelers selected had a charming terrace 
 paved with blue tiles and shady with plum-trees. 
 They sat there after dinner in reclining chairs, 
 the air faintly permeated with orange blossoms.
 
 276 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Vesuvius, Capri, and Ischia lay before them in the 
 fine sunset. 
 
 Edwina was thinking, as always when off duty, 
 of Champion. Perhaps she sent her cousin a mind- 
 wave, for in a minute Eunice spoke. 
 
 " I wonder if I could give Mr. Champion the 
 least idea of what we are seeing? It would be 
 something to write about if I could." 
 
 " He has been here," said Edwina. " It would 
 be enough simply to tell him where we are." 
 
 Miss Remick turned toward the speaker. " We 
 must see the tarantella this evening, must n't we ? 
 You are n't forgetting, I hope." 
 
 " Are you coming with us, Mr. Remick? " asked 
 Edwina. 
 
 The old gentleman was sitting in his usual pos- 
 ture, staring through the enchanting beauty of the 
 bay at whatever it was his gaze always fixed upon. 
 
 " It 's the same thing, I dare say. I saw it five 
 years ago." 
 
 " Then don't disturb yourself. We will take 
 care of Miss Remick. Cousin Eunice and I should 
 go by ourselves were we here alone." 
 
 But when they started, Mr. Remick followed, 
 and Edwina fell back and walked with him, as if 
 no other plan had been thought of. Supposing 
 this tall form were another but she must not 
 consider that. 
 
 " Did you ever see anything less American 
 than this?" she asked, as they moved through the 
 narrow, deserted windings of the streets, boxed in
 
 FLYING TRIPS 277 
 
 with irregular old houses. " Oh, I forgot. You 
 don't know America. Well, is n't it just like a 
 stage setting like an old picture ? " 
 
 " Yes, these Italian villages are always remind- 
 ing one of pictures, of course. Artists have been 
 at them for generations." 
 
 " But it reminds me more of grand opera. I 
 feel if I only opened my mouth right here and 
 tried to sing, my voice would sound like Emma 
 Eames'!" 
 
 " I dare say you 'd only alarm the watch." 
 
 The girl laughed. " I shan't sing without more 
 urging than that. You need n't expect it." 
 
 " I was n't urging you," said the Englishman 
 
 " No so I understood." 
 
 " Ow ! " 
 
 " But, I can tell you, I am full of songs, full 
 to the brim of Italian street songs that we have 
 heard at Naples and Capri and here. I hummed 
 one or two to Luigi, and he told me their names 
 and says he will write me the words of one of them ; 
 and to-night I heard a waiter whistling one after 
 dinner, and I rushed at the poor man and asked 
 him what it was, and that pretty little daughter of 
 the landlord came to the rescue. ' You do not 
 know it, Maria Mari ? ' she said. ' I will make 
 you hear it on the mandolin.' And so she did. 
 Perhaps you heard her." 
 
 " Yes, I heard her." 
 
 " Wasn't it pretty?" 
 
 " Rather neat, I thought."
 
 278 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Arrived at the Tramontane hotel, where the tar- 
 antella was danced, to Edwina's great pleasure the 
 company gave several of the characteristic songs 
 that had begun to haunt her, and she expressed 
 her enthusiasm to Mr. Remick with as much aban- 
 don as if he had been another schoolgirl. That 
 this novel and extraordinary treatment did not dis- 
 please the invalid was proved next morning, when, 
 returning from a stroll in the village, he presented 
 Edwina with a rolled bundle, whose contents 
 proved to be a collection of the popular songs of 
 the day. Her surprise and pleasure were so gen- 
 uine that he looked down into her clear young eyes 
 with a certain brightness in his own. 
 
 " I only wish I could hear you play them," he 
 said, with such an approach to graciousness that 
 his ever-loyal sister beamed upon him with pride 
 and admiration. 
 
 That evening, when they returned from seeing 
 the dance through the narrow old streets to their 
 hotel, they found their terrace enchanting. Venus 
 in a starry sky was casting a track of light across 
 the water, and an occasional lurid glow brightened 
 the smoke ever rising from Vesuvius ; but the spot 
 was disenchanted for Miss Pritchard the following 
 morning when an all-pervasive bell clanged near 
 her window before five o'clock, and continued the 
 performance at intervals of fifteen minutes. The 
 clamor disturbed even Edwina's young dreams, and 
 she was prepared for Eunice's prayer for a hasty 
 departure.
 
 FLYING TRIPS 279 
 
 " When I get home," said Miss Pritchard, 
 " I 'm going to ask to have * Ring the bells of 
 Heaven ' struck out of the hymn book. Do let 
 me hope for peace above ! " 
 
 "We might substitute 'Ring the bells of 
 Hades,' " suggested Edwina. " I think a gospel 
 song on that text would make you abandon all 
 your vices, little Eunice." 
 
 " I 'm sure of it ! " returned Miss Pritchard de- 
 voutly. " Just supposing Baedeker would indicate 
 in every town which hotel was least disturbed by 
 bells and early street noises. It would make the 
 fortune of certain landlords, and make coming to 
 Europe a dream of pleasure. Ned, I think the 
 Remicks want to take our drive with us." 
 
 " I 've been weighing that in my mind ; and do 
 you know, I 'm such a coward about Italian drivers, 
 I should n't be sorry to have them. Mr. Remick 
 is an experienced traveler, after all." 
 
 So when later that morning the old gentleman 
 brought her the music, Edwina found it the easier 
 to discuss with him their prospective trip. It being 
 discovered that the luggage of four would seriously 
 over-weight one vehicle, it turned out that the 
 party set forth in two landaus, to each of which 
 were harnessed three horses. 
 
 The landlord and his daughter kissed the travel- 
 ers' hands in the graceful Italian fashion and 
 wished them " Bon voyage" and in the inevitable 
 sunshine the landaus rolled away. Miss Pritchard 
 had politely suggested that the Remicks' carriage
 
 280 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 take precedence in case of dust being raised which 
 otherwise might irritate the invalid's " tubes." 
 Mr. Remick expressed laconically his appreciation 
 of her thoughtfulness and accepted the arrange- 
 ment. With all his faults, he had not the ordinary 
 ones of the chronic invalid. He never talked of 
 his aches and pains, never ostensibly arranged for 
 his own comfort or relief, but grimly and stolidly 
 pursued the path of life as one who asks no favors 
 of Fortune nor expects any. 
 
 Eunice and Edwina could not forbear laughing 
 a little over the probable good cheer inside the 
 forward carriage. " I only hope they won't ask 
 to make any exchange of companions," said Eunice. 
 "That good soul, Miss Remick, is beginning to 
 understand that you have charms to soothe Brer 
 B'ar's savage breast, and what shall we do if she 
 asks to change part of the way? " 
 
 " Oh, we can't ! " exclaimed Edwina. " I sus- 
 pect you are going to be more severely attacked 
 by poetry than in Wales. I can't have such a 
 ball and chain attached to your flights as Miss 
 Remick would be. There are limits to good na- 
 ture." 
 
 Edwina had been assiired by a German in 
 Capri that this famous drive from Sorrento to 
 Amalfi and Salerno was " incomparable for beauty 
 in the whole world." The orange and lemon 
 groves of Sorrento seemed illimitable to our trav- 
 elers, and for an hour their carriage wound and 
 rose inland until at last they came again into a
 
 FLYING TRIPS 281 
 
 road on the brink of the peacock sea. Beside it 
 rose volcanic mountains, and it wound so abruptly 
 and constantly that the changing vistas kept busy 
 the eyes and imagination of these beauty worship- 
 ers. Three and a half hours' driving brought 
 them to Amalfi, where they stopped at the Hotel 
 Syrene on the edge of the town. The heavy tide 
 surged at the base of the hospitable little house 
 and added to its charms of cleanliness and quiet. 
 Moreover, being a trifle remote is in favor of a 
 hostelry in this region, for it is evident that Italian 
 villages, like other effective pictures, were never 
 intended to be smelled of. 
 
 They all stayed a few days at Amalfi. They 
 drove to lofty Ravello, going slowly up beside the 
 Valley of the Mills and rejoicing in the views of 
 its river and cascades. The universal drawback 
 to Italian paradises, the beggars, were not espe- 
 cially touching during these days. It is under- 
 stood among them that any means will suffice to 
 extract soldi from tourists if they are of a giving 
 spirit. The Italian babies beg before they can 
 speak plainly. A healthy mite clad in one gar- 
 ment holds up a tiny hand and says, " Tholdi, 
 Thignora ! " quite as early as an American infant 
 could enunciate " Mamma " and " Papa." Often 
 our travelers were amused to observe a baby in a 
 second story window look down upon them as they 
 drove by and make the interrogative as well as 
 imperative sign which signified demand. The 
 little closed hand would go up, with one finger
 
 282 MISS PBITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 raised. It was eloquent pantomime, and meant 
 " One soldo," the trifling fact of the impossibility 
 of transferring the coin from the moving carriage 
 to the upper floor of the house not in the least 
 affecting the gesture which followed mechanically 
 on the recognition of a tourist. The energy and 
 persistency of the athletic little beggars was sur' 
 prising. Sometimes they ran for miles beside the 
 carriage, their excuse at one time being the wish 
 to sell a small wilted nosegay, at another the offer- 
 ing of an unfortunate bird which, seized by the 
 feet, ineffectually flapped its wings until, utterly 
 rejected, it was folded back into its prison beneath 
 a boy's jacket. 
 
 " Indeed I won't buy the poor little thing," said 
 Edwina indignantly. " It would only encourage 
 them to go and catch another immediately." 
 
 Another ruse adopted by a vigorous little fellow 
 was to throw a world of pathos into his beautiful 
 eyes and while racing beside the carriage to open 
 his jacket and exhibit his plump olive body. The 
 day was warm, and his comfortable scarcity of ap- 
 parel elicited a smile, but no soldi. Nevertheless 
 there were many occasions which won their loose 
 coin, and at a journey's end they never had a cop- 
 per left. The temptation to get rid of blots on 
 that grand and uplifting scenery is too strong for 
 rules of conduct. 
 
 On their last morning in Amalfi Mr. Remick 
 declined to mount to the Hotel of the Capuchins, 
 but the others took the long flights of stone steps
 
 FLYING TRIPS 283 
 
 deliberately, in consideration of Miss Remick's 
 avoirdupois. A reason which influenced Eunice 
 to make haste as slowly as any one pleased was the 
 number of lizards which scurried up and down and 
 to right and left on the baked steps as they ascended 
 to the old monastery. The garden, when they 
 reached it, proved worthy of all effort, and they 
 strolled happily between its white columns where 
 rich vines screen one from the sun, and looked 
 down, down, on the resplendent sea, all color and 
 light and sparkle. Miss Remick insisted on mea- 
 suring the clumps of daisies loaded with blossoms 
 which grew like little trees from a thick trunk. 
 Finding them six yards in circumference, she jot- 
 ted down the fact in a small note-book, saying that 
 dear Edward would be so interested. 
 
 After lunch that day the party set forth for 
 Salerno. The crucial moment which Miss Pritch- 
 ard had apprehended arrived. Miss Remick 
 looked slowly around before they entered the car- 
 riages. " How would it be to change this after- 
 noon," she suggested, " and let Miss Wilder ride 
 with me brother ? " 
 
 Edwina had prepared for this emergency a little 
 statement of her cousin's timidity in driving, but 
 she was not called upon to use it. Mr. Remick 
 waved his hand impatiently to his sister. " Get 
 in," he said. "I'll not victimize Miss Wilder. 
 You know very well I 'm silent as a post in a car- 
 riage." 
 
 " To be sure, Edward. Talking in any noise
 
 284 WSS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 does distress your tubes, does n't it ? Now, I 'm 
 never so lively as when driving. I must talk." 
 
 " Humph ! Well, I 'm deaf as a post too when 
 I want to be ; so it 's all right. I don't hear any- 
 thing you say ; " with which brotherly reassurance 
 he followed her into the landau, and the Ameri- 
 cans mounted to their own, exulting over the es- 
 caped peril. 
 
 " What sort of things do you suppose she says 
 all the time ? " exclaimed Eunice. " Think of 
 three or four hours of one of nature's chiefest pan- 
 oramas, with the tide of the Mediterranean on one 
 side and her talk on the other! I should jump 
 out, I know I should ! " 
 
 But the roll of music, flattened so nicely in 
 Edwina's suit case, was still making her heart un- 
 usually tender toward Mr. Remick. That Satur- 
 day evening in Salerno the street was nearly equal 
 to a carnival in crowd and gayety. Edwina pro- 
 posed to Mr. Remick that they study human na- 
 ture abroad rather than attempt the impossible in 
 endeavoring to sleep before midnight ; and he 
 actually sallied forth with her on the crowded 
 Quai and scowled forbiddingly at the handsome 
 officers who stared approvingly at the tall, fair 
 American girl, while she chatted to him gayly. 
 
 His responses were mostly confined to " Really ! " 
 " I dare say ! " " My word ! " " Ow ! " but they 
 served to prove that in this case the old gentleman 
 did not take refuge in deafness ; and he vouch- 
 safed afterward to his sister that no one could be 
 dull where Miss Wilder was.
 
 FLYING TRIPS 285 
 
 The following morning a very short view of the 
 Cathedral sufficed our party, while the evil smells 
 of the inland streets caused them to hasten with 
 alacrity to the station to take the train for 
 Paestum. 
 
 How still, how clear and lovely was that Sunday 
 morning at Paestum, late enough in the season 
 to have let the tide of tourists sweep by and on ! 
 Leaving the train, the quartette strolled out to the 
 green field where stand the ruined temples by the 
 sea. Between their columns gleamed the green 
 water, and the summit of each ancient pillar had 
 become a natural hanging basket, brimming over 
 with vines and flowers that waved softly beneath 
 the cloudless sky. They were alone but for a few 
 persistent children, whom bribes at last induced to 
 leave them in peace. 
 
 The altars and steps of the temples offered an 
 embarrassment of riches in the way of seats and 
 stony couches where one might dream, level with 
 the responsive, sighing tide. " I should like to 
 come here by moonlight with " thought Edwina, 
 so intently that she feared for a moment she might 
 have spoken. She glanced about her furtively. 
 Her companions were absorbed, each one sepa- 
 rately. She gave a little sigh of thankfulness and 
 sank down on the stone at the foot of a pillar. " It 
 is nearly time for me to write to him," she reflected 
 with a wave of joy. 
 
 A couple of days afterward at Pompeii, when 
 Miss Pritchard had yielded to Miss Remick's
 
 286 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 desire to make a second visit to the ruins, Edwina 
 seized her opportunity. 
 
 MY DEAR [she wrote] : I have as many things 
 as ever to thank you for, first for writing the 
 little note to cousin Eunice at Capri. I read 
 between its lines, and I assure you I always shall, 
 and, as I promised, will write you twice every 
 month until the circumstances change. Your gen- 
 erosity in yielding to my wishes makes me [here 
 the writer bit her pen for a hesitating minute ; 
 finally she continued ] I must n't say one half the 
 things to you that are in my mind, no, in my 
 heart ; for I am afraid they will make you answer 
 me. Cousin Eunice is so happy, I want to forget 
 that Edwina Wilder has any wishes until we get 
 on the ship to go home. Don't you think if I 
 make my letters merely friendly and commonplace, 
 it will be easier for you ? If so, please say in your 
 next to cousin Eunice that the weather is pleasant. 
 But if you wish me to express more, and are sure 
 you will keep your part of the compact, just men- 
 tion that the weather is bad, and I shall under- 
 stand. It hurts me to keep a secret from cousin 
 Eunice, but it would hurt worse to cloud this fes- 
 tive time she is having after such long dull years 
 of loneliness. One hint, and all my care would go 
 for nothing. Remember, " Of the unspoken word 
 you are master. The spoken word is master of 
 you." But what a prosy friend you will consider 
 me!
 
 FLYING TRIPS 287 
 
 How I wish you were here ! That is what I 
 think in each new place ; and yet I would n't have 
 you come for anything. Yesterday we went through 
 the strange resurrected city with its miniature 
 houses. It is in keeping with our usual good for- 
 tune that Vesuvius is in eruption. The rocks that 
 are flying in the air keep up a sullen booming as 
 of artillery. The noise added considerable realism 
 to going through the ruins yesterday. It was as 
 if the mountain were saying : "I can do it again if 
 I like." When evening came we went down the 
 road in the moonlight to a spot where the view was 
 unobstructed, and the sight was really fearful and 
 wonderful. The hotel proprietor was with us, and 
 he bade us remember that the stones we saw rising 
 were in reality large rocks. The crater measures 
 four hundred and fifty feet across, and it was 
 alive with flame, .while these red-hot rocks flew up 
 toward the sky in a fountain and with a sound 
 of cannonading as they struck together and fell 
 apart in streams of fire. The Remicks are with 
 us, and Miss Remick concluded that London was a 
 very nice, safe place. Nevertheless she and cousin 
 Eunice have gone among the ruins again to-day, 
 giving me blessed time to write a word to you. 
 
 I believe cousin Eunice told you of our hand- 
 some Italian boy, Luigi, who interested us so much 
 at Capri. We have both written him a word. 
 The picture post-cards make such an easy way of 
 sending a message. You have taken the drive we 
 did, so I needn't say anything about it except that
 
 288 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 the weather was good. Your memory will do the 
 rest. I wished for you every minute but that is 
 one of the things I am not to say, unless you are 
 having unpleasant weather ! 
 
 Keep well and happy until I write again. 
 
 [The girl paused once more to meditate upon 
 the form of ending to her epistle. She considered 
 all the conventional and friendly methods, and one 
 by one her heart pronounced against them. Was 
 it not ungenerous to demand Champion's silence, 
 and then give him less than would satisfy him if 
 he could claim his rights ? She clasped both hands 
 over her rosy cheeks and looked seriously at the 
 written page. "If I cannot marry him I shall 
 marry no one, so why not ? " she asked herself, 
 then with steady hand signed :] 
 
 Your EDWINA. 
 
 She had addressed and stamped the envelope 
 when Miss Pritchard and her friend entered the 
 room. She slid the letter beneath some paper. 
 Mr. Remick came in and stood about a while listen- 
 ing to their talk, then started forth, announcing 
 his intention of taking a walk. The girl followed 
 him into the hall. 
 
 " Ned, I have n't told you about this new house 
 we found," called Eunice. 
 
 " Yes, I 'm coming right back ; " then softly 
 accosting Mr. Remick : " Would you mind mail- 
 ing this letter as you go out ? "
 
 FLYING TRIPS 289 
 
 Mr. Remick regarded the envelope. " Doing 
 what ? What is it you wish ? " 
 
 " Oh, just mail it ! " said the girl hurriedly. 
 " But never mind, if you 're not going that way." 
 She slipped the missive back into the folds of her 
 dress. 
 
 " Post it, do you mean ? " Why could n't you 
 say so, then ? Give it me ; I '11 post it, certainly." 
 So this strange Cupid's messenger stalked off with 
 the precious bit of paper, and Edwina returned 
 with a beating heart to listen to tales of Pompeian 
 pottery.
 
 CHAPTER XVH 
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 
 
 THE Eemicks continued with their American 
 friends as far as Florence, and they all found 
 rooms on the Lung Arno, and spent one week 
 together in this jewel casket of a city before the 
 English people said farewell. Miss Remick shed a 
 few tears at parting. 
 
 " It 's very tiresome growing fond of people and 
 then never seeing them again," she said. 
 
 " But how can we ever be sure of that ? " Miss 
 Pritchard reminded her. " We thought we had 
 parted in Cannes, you remember, and see what a 
 long, pleasant trip we have had together." 
 
 Miss Remick wiped her eyes, but shook her 
 head. " Me brother's tubes will never permit him 
 to go to the States ; but if you should come to 
 England again you '11 not forget us, will you ? " 
 
 " We shall not forget you in any case," said 
 Edwina, whose smooth hand was clasping Mr. 
 Remick's wooden fingers as she spoke. " I shall 
 think of you every time I play those songs, and I 
 hope you may grow stronger very soon," she 
 added, looking up at him. 
 
 " Ay, hope is a good thing," responded Mr.
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 291 
 
 Remick stoically. " You '11 let us know when you 
 get to the other side, I dare say." 
 
 " I shall write to you immediately," answered 
 the girl. 
 
 A little later Eunice and Edwina were again 
 alone, and rejoicing as usual in this independence. 
 
 Florence was enchanting in the latter part of 
 May. The river was still full from profuse rains, 
 the cypresses dark and slender on the heights, and 
 the irregular old cream-colored houses made grace- 
 ful sky-lines. Edwina drove with Eunice beneath 
 the giant trees of the Cascine and listened to the 
 wild melody of the black-caps, and strolled with 
 her in the Boboli Gardens, where bird-songs fluted 
 through the leafy glades. She took her cousin up 
 through rose-laden roads to Fiesole, and exulted 
 with her over the speckless greenness of foliage 
 and the breadth of views. 
 
 In return Eunice accompanied Edwina on pil- 
 grimages to see fifteenth century frescoes, faded 
 and inaccessible except by putting one's neck to 
 the torture, and kept her opinion of them to her- 
 self. They took plenty of time for the galleries, 
 where Eunice felt no need of Symonds, Berenson, 
 or any one else to assist her in selecting the pic- 
 tures really worth seeing, and having chosen her 
 favorites, held to them loyally, with no interest as 
 to whether they were lacking in a dimension. 
 Edwina pointed out to her in Santa Maria Novella 
 a Madonna and Child of Cimabue, and read to her 
 what was said of the utter joy in its beauty which
 
 292 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 greeted its completion ; how the populace had 
 borne the picture through the streets with public 
 rejoicings, and told her that the name of that 
 street to this day is " The Way of Gladness." 
 Miss Pritchard only shook her head and clicked 
 her tongue as she gazed at the crooked face and 
 long fingers of the Virgin. " Were n't they easily 
 pleased ! " she said. 
 
 Eunice soon received another letter from Howard 
 Champion. He was at Innsbruck now, and had 
 been taking some interesting pedestrian trips in 
 the bracing air. Miss Pritchard, her eye-glasses 
 well down on her nose, skimmed through the letter 
 in silence, while Edwina sat near doing some 
 mending and putting in staggering stitches while 
 she waited, which would all have to be ripped out. 
 
 " W T hy, the poor fellow is having the most awful 
 weather ! " said Eunice at last, still reading. 
 Edwina pricked her finger. " Why I never 
 heard anything like it ! It 's unsafe for him to 
 walk in such a place ! Such furious hailstorms 
 might cause landslides in such a mountainous 
 region ! And how strange to have thunder and 
 lightning at the same time. Well, well, I don't won- 
 der it 's depressing. Listen : ' Weather does n't 
 usually affect me, but this excessive riot of the 
 elements gets on my nerves, to quote Miss Rem- 
 ick. I actually feel as if some compensation were 
 due me.' He hopes we 're enjoying ourselves. 
 Here it is," holding the sheet across to Edwina, 
 who took it with an eager hand. " Dear me,"
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 293 
 
 sighed Miss Pritchard, *' I wish I could write as 
 good a letter as he does. By the way, Ned, you 've 
 quite given up writing of late. I don't see why 
 you should n't answer this instead of my doing it. 
 It is such a cross for me to write a letter." 
 
 The girl did not answer. One cheek leaned in 
 her hand as she read, and that volume between the 
 lines so filled her consciousness that she did not 
 trust herself to speak. , 
 
 " I shall look in the papers and see if I can 
 find something about those storms," pursued 
 Eunice. " It must have been a perfect convulsion 
 of nature up there. Had n't you just as lief write 
 him a little note, Ned ? " 
 
 " I 'd rather you did it, if you don't mind. I 
 was planning to write a number of letters to-mor- 
 row. I have neglected my friends a good while, 
 and now we shall have to write Luigi too. Here 
 is an epistle from him to us both." Edwina 
 laughed, glad of an outlet for her emotion. " You 
 might read it aloud. It was addressed to me, so I 
 opened it ; but I wonder if he thinks my last name 
 came first on the envelope, just as his does on his 
 card ! " 
 
 Eunice took the closely-written sheet of paper 
 and read as follows : 
 
 DEARS MY, Very glad to received your kind 
 letter from Amalfi, and very sorry that haven't 
 been there with you. Do you tell me what have 
 seen the Tarantella at Sorrento, and many other
 
 294 MISS PKITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 things. I send you the song written, but of course 
 am I not the clevverest of the language in Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 Dear Miss Edwina and Mrs. Eunice, I write 
 you both because I saw also you both are kind. 
 It is very sad for me to remain in Capri without 
 English friends. Of course I have known you, 
 and now you are run away and who know when 
 we shall see again ! 
 
 Dears mine, the fourteenth is in Capri a grand 
 fest, and many people come in Capri. I should 
 have had you also with me. 
 
 I am glad that you are happy to see all, and 
 well. Also my mother she is well, thank you very 
 much what want know about her. Thank you also 
 that both are sitting to write to me, much obliged 
 to you ; but Luigi will not forget the friends what 
 he has known. 
 
 Dear Wilder, I wrote you a post card and also 
 to Mrs. Eunice, for Luigi should never like to 
 leave his friends without writting. Don't forgetten 
 to write me soon as possible, that I expect your 
 letter. Miss Edwina said that both were sitting 
 to read, but I am alone to think of you, is indeed. 
 Am I very glad if you will understand the song, 
 and I will just remain like that with kindly re- 
 guards to both, with good salute and prosperity. 
 
 So Miss Edwina and Mrs. Pritchard, with the 
 best respect a shake hands, 
 
 Your subordinate 
 
 S. LUIGI.
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 295 
 
 On the last page of the sheet were the lines of 
 the song. Luigi had headed these : 
 
 TRADUCTION. 
 Open the window, 
 Let me smooth (plane) your hair. 
 How much sleep that I lose for you, 
 Don't found a hour of peace, 
 The night I make a day ever. 
 Open little bit of the window, 
 With the little hand a sign to me she make. 
 Sound the gitar, 
 My lady she wake up, 
 
 A beautiful serenade let her hear (sentire). 
 In the middle of these little garden 
 A bed with heap of roses have I make for you. 
 Come, that the night is sweet, 
 The sky that is a mantle, 
 You sleep and I sing 
 The lullaby side (by) you. 
 The night is quite (serene) after the storm, 
 And the air fresh appear already. 
 
 In tiny script at the bottom of the page were 
 written the words, " Addio, Wilder. Addio to 
 Mrs. Eunice." 
 
 In another fortnight Eunice and Edwina were 
 listening to the songs on the lagoons in Venice. 
 When Miss Pritchard made the appalling discov- 
 ery that within the confines of this poetical city 
 night begins in the small hours and ends before 
 they are half-grown, she relinquished a large, fine 
 room on the Grand Canal to Edwina and fled to 
 an attic chamber looking on the garden and the 
 stars. After they had come in from their evening 
 ride in a gondola the girl would sit in her window
 
 296 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 and listen to the untiring music in the lantern- 
 lighted boats and watch the mysterious red and 
 green reflections in the water as far up and down 
 as the eye could reach, and best of all, the quiver- 
 ing grays that trembled in the lagoon beneath the 
 saints and angels on the Church of Santa Maria 
 della Salute, which was straight across from her 
 balcony. A certain letter that she wrote from there 
 must have melted all the hail in the Tyrol. 
 
 As soon as Eunice proved that she had found a 
 place where she could sleep, she gave herself up to 
 the delights of this Queen of the Adriatic. What 
 a rest it was never to hear the crack of a whip or 
 to see an ill-treated animal ! What a luxury to 
 call a gondola instead of a cab and float about to 
 the clmrches and galleries ! 
 
 As everywhere, Eunice and Edwina had each 
 her favorite pastime. The former's was decidedly 
 feeding the pigeons in the piazza, and when finally 
 persuaded therefrom in the interests of art or hun- 
 ger she would purchase a last paper of " ble potir 
 les pigeons " and, trailing the contents after he:", 
 would succeed as well as the Pied Piper of Hamelin 
 in attracting a procession of small followers. Ed- 
 wina's delight was to add hers to the concourse of 
 gondolas which by night made a black platform 
 across the Grand Canal surrounding some favorite 
 serenade-boat, where the big dramatic voices so 
 common in Italy made amusing the remembrance 
 of many feeble pipes carefully nurtured and culti- 
 vated at home. Thus evening after evening in the
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 297 
 
 dusk of the lagoon, a crowd of glinting, polished 
 battle-axes rose and fell on the rhythmic waves 
 under a yellow moon, while the full voices vibrated 
 down the water ways, accompanying Edwina's 
 dreams. 
 
 Miss Pritchard was not slow to find the public 
 garden, vocal as a cage of singing birds, and de- 
 lighting her with its loaded rose-trees twenty feet 
 in height. Her thrifty New England sense was 
 offended by the peeling frescoes on the old weather- 
 beaten palaces, that look in their blackness as if 
 snowed upon in patches ; but she soon found that 
 Edwina considered it heresy to observe anything 
 except their rich carvings ; and if in a narrow 
 liquid street an undeniably bad odor assailed her, 
 she learned to swallow her objections and wait for 
 the fresh salt breeze which as soon as they emerged 
 into the Grand Canal would sweep in from the sea, 
 filling the red sails and fluttering the gondoliers' 
 ribbons. She liked to wander about the city 
 through the narrow alleys, or where the plate glass 
 windows come down to one's feet in the streets de- 
 void of vehicles. The glitter of the piazza of St. 
 Mark's at night, its rich shop windows dazzlingly 
 lighted, quite intoxicated Eunice, who would have 
 spent the remainder of their letter of credit among 
 them if Edwina would have allowed it. 
 
 Their evening usually ended with an ice at Flo- 
 rian's and watching the changing crowds who lis- 
 tened to the orchestra in the " open air ball-room " 
 of the piazza ; and when the time came for them
 
 298 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 reluctantly to resume their journeyings, they found 
 that no spot had held them with such a potent spell 
 as Venice. With their quattro pieces of hand- 
 luggage they entered a gondola, and for the last 
 time stole around the liquid windings, past battered, 
 peeling walls and stately palaces to the Stazione. 
 Eunice looked solemnly at swaying vines and 
 graceful bridges. 
 
 " Cheer up," said Edwina. " You will come 
 back again." 
 
 " Never ! " returned Miss Pritchard tragically. 
 " I 'm an old woman, Ned." 
 
 " You 're a blessed little goose," laughed the 
 girl irreverently ; and the gondolier hoped it was 
 the merry one who was going to pay him, and not 
 the lady whose grief might make her absent- 
 minded. 
 
 Eunice did cheer up that very evening as they 
 stood together by the cathedral at Milan. The 
 sky was still blue, although the sun had set, and 
 as Eunice and Edwina approached the vast build- 
 ing, its beauty was unearthly, the hundreds of 
 snowy spires seeming too airy to be aught but a 
 vision of light. 
 
 The next place where they made any stay was 
 at Tremezzo on Lake Co mo. Here thick woods 
 grew up to the back windows of their villa, which 
 was on the border of the lake. A terrace built 
 over the water contained easy chairs and was 
 screened by thick and delicate vines whose tassels 
 hung and swayed from the trellises above. Hawks
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 299 
 
 wheeled lazily over the water, and from the oppo- 
 site shore rose mountains tier on tier, the highest 
 patched with snow. The moon rose behind these 
 hills that night, making a scene of soft splendor ; 
 yet these ungrateful Americans talked low of Ven- 
 ice, and when some strolling singers stopped under 
 the trees and sang " O Carmela," the moon grew 
 dim to Edwina. However, thanks to Mr. Remick, 
 " O Carmela " was her own now. She felt con- 
 scious that these tears were not all for Venice, and 
 disciplined herself by immediately beginning to 
 talk. 
 
 " If I want to weep over ' Carmela ' when I get 
 home, won't it be a nice antidote to think of the 
 Remicks ! Are you glad they 're not with us here, 
 little Eunice ? " 
 
 Miss Pritchard sighed contentedly. " I 'm never 
 less alone than when alone with you, Ned." 
 
 " That 's what the French call ' solitude a 
 deux, ' " remarked Edwina. 
 
 " I just call it nice. It 's less trouble." 
 
 " Oh yes, it 's nice," agreed the girl, swallowing 
 a sigh which threatened to grow into something 
 more. She had tried that solitude a deux as yet 
 but twice : two minutes in St. Cecilia's tomb and 
 three minutes in the Colosseum ; yet those minutes 
 stood up like mountain peaks in the panorama of 
 her short life. Dangerous thoughts ! She hurried 
 on. 
 
 " I wonder if the Remicks have reached Eng- 
 land, and if Miss Remick has her own tea again ?
 
 300 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 What a time she had at Capri after her tea 
 gave out ! How funny she was at the table any- 
 way. She was always saying that the mutton 
 tasted sheepy ; and then the peas ! Do you remem- 
 ber how she always hoped they were fresh ? ' It 's 
 so disappointing to find them bottled, is n't it ? " 
 
 Miss Pritchard laughed at Edwina's imitation of 
 the husky voice. 
 
 Eunice had her fill of flowers, vines, and trees 
 now in the Italian June. The wistaria and rose 
 vines, the oleander-trees, as well as the magnolia 
 and laurel, kept her busy examining and marvel- 
 ing. Then she and Edwina took walks beside the 
 lake under ancient plane-trees whose boughs roofed 
 the road, and looked at the picturesque villas. 
 These princely homes were set on the hillside. 
 Their terraces, groves, fountains, and festooned 
 garlands of roses resembled the engravings of the 
 Celestial City in Miss Pritchard's old copy of 
 " Pilgrim's Progress." 
 
 After a week of this dolcefar niente, the trav- 
 elers sailed on to Lugano. Daylight lasted now 
 until after nine o'clock, and they dined in their 
 hotel garden near a giant pine-tree whose trunk 
 measured twenty-one feet in circumference. Its 
 symmetry and height were so perfect, tapering 
 from a grand width to a point, that Miss Pritchard 
 could scarcely eat. The hotel was built into the 
 lake's edge, and it reminded Edwina of Venice to 
 be able to lean from her window and look down 
 into the water. It was clear as glass, and large
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 301 
 
 fish swam directly below. Planets rose behind the 
 hills and sent quivering lights across the lake, and 
 the girl forgot to go to bed. 
 
 Eunice, being less romantically inclined, would 
 have been glad to sleep, but her room had the dis- 
 comfort so general in foreign lands of a door com- 
 municating with the neighboring one. The latter 
 was occupied by a couple of portly women whom 
 Eunice had noticed at dinner. She had been 
 many times astonished during her wanderings by 
 the naivete", if not selfishness, of talkative couples 
 in these rooms with a tell-tale door ; and as she lay 
 to-night wearily and unwillingly listening to the 
 preferences of these Boston ladies regarding their 
 underwear, the only thing that cheered her was the 
 reflection that their auditor might as easily have 
 been a man as her little sleepy self. 
 
 Eunice and Edwina made the enchanting trip 
 up lakes Lugano and Maggiore to Isola Bella 
 and Stresa, then back to Lugano, whence they 
 started for Munich. This day on which they took 
 a reluctant leave of Italy was a memorable one to 
 Miss Pritchard in its natural beauty. The drive 
 up to the station amid long hedges of honeysuckle 
 and magnolia-trees in full bloom strained her loy- 
 alty, in the first place, to her native land. Then 
 came the wonderful ride through the pass of St. 
 Gothard, sometimes up among the snow mountains, 
 sometimes amid the luxuriant foliage of June that 
 made the foam of the measureless waterfalls and 
 dashing torrents dazzlingly white in contrast. Any-
 
 302 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 thing so grand Eunice had never seen, and once 
 having been for minutes reduced to speechlessness 
 by the transporting panorama, she leaned solemnly 
 toward Edwina and declared : 
 
 " I am having to say patriotic hymns ! " 
 
 They alighted at Zurich for a day, then went on 
 to Munich, where their letters awaited them. 
 There was one for Miss Pritchard from Howard 
 Champion. She read it when they had returned 
 to their hotel, while Edwina sat by burning with 
 impatience, her eyes unseeingly scanning a letter 
 from Mr. Glenn. 
 
 At last Eunice gave an exclamation. " I do 
 think it's the queerest thing for such a great, 
 strong fellow as Mr. Champion to think so much 
 about the weather ! This is one hymn of praise 
 about it, just as the last was all complaints. I 
 should have expected him to be a little less put to 
 it for subjects to write about. He 's been to Ober- 
 ammergau too." 
 
 " What does he say ? " 
 
 " He enjoyed it wonderfully. I '11 let you read 
 it in a minute. He says he is glad you engaged 
 our accommodations so long ago, for the rush is 
 enormous. Here it is," passing Edwina the letter. 
 
 The girl bowed her head over the sheet so that 
 its shining waves were presented at Miss Pritchard, 
 who, however, had opened the second letter, which 
 bore an Italian stamp and was from their new 
 correspondent. He had sent them several com- 
 munications, to which they had responded. Ed-
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 303 
 
 wiiia dwelt as long as she dared on Champion's 
 strong handwriting, but looked up when Eunice 
 after a while remarked that they had another letter 
 from " The Beauty." 
 
 " It is to us both again," she said. " I '11 read 
 it ; and here is a pressed pansy he has enclosed." 
 
 DEARS MY, I am so glad to received your 
 kind letter, which you said that have not got my 
 letter. Very displeased ; because I don't remem- 
 ber so many things as I did before. I have written 
 in those letter that we have had one of our brother 
 lost in the Transval dead. Perhaps I told you 
 when you were in Capri I had a brother in the 
 Transval; of course can you think how painful 
 about my mother the affliction that she had, also 
 my sisters and brothers. There are six weeks go 
 that he is dead, and my mother she is still in lam- 
 entation (tears) always with her son and forever 
 she cry ; she has been indisposed for her son she 
 saise always. I did n't seen him from two years 
 and he is dead. 
 
 Dears mine, so displeased at home, am sorry to 
 give you sad news, but the God he desire so, we 
 must be glad is indeed. 
 
 Well, Miss Wilder, I wish you well and also the 
 kind Mrs. Eunice, all in good health, and I hope 
 you don't forget to remember always aboxit Luigi, 
 and I pray you also, dear Wilder, so much indeed 
 to send me your fotograph, yours and Mrs. Pritch- 
 ard, because I like so much to have them in my
 
 304 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 house. I will hope that you don't used displeased 
 about my demand because with those kodak you 
 get mine and can you see Luigi near you, but I 
 cannot see you. Of course, please, Miss Wilder, 
 sent them to me. 
 
 Dear Miss Edwina, how should be happy to see 
 your sweet fingers when you plai the piano with all 
 the Italian songs. The best melody it is the piano 
 what I like, spacialy when a lady she sing. I 
 did n't know that when you were in Capri that you 
 know about the piano ; well, I hope that come 
 again in Capri and I will see your light fingers 
 when they plai, and I will also sing "0 sole wu'o," 
 and " Maria Marl" 
 
 I am very glad to received your nice letter from 
 Lago di Como. I was afraid you is n't wrote me ; 
 but you said you went in Venice and with moon- 
 light you went out ; so disappointed to be not there 
 with a gondola all gathered, so sorry not be with 
 you every places. 
 
 Did you have taken any bath in Italy in Capri, 
 the water is so splendid, so warm clear very beau- 
 tiful, but not many people are here, so few. I 
 wanted go some away, and I went to Sorrento with 
 a Germany family, they were so kind with me I told 
 them if they won't take out me in Germany and 
 they said we could not, so of course I have thought 
 to remain in Capri another year and after, I go 
 away if I don't found anything ; but if you write 
 me for always I will let you know all. Dear Sig- 
 norina, let me know in wich country you will re- 
 main before you go to America.
 
 FAREWELL TO ITALY 305 
 
 My mother she thank you so much for your re- 
 membrance to her and she send you both the dou- 
 ble compliment and thanks. Your kindness is so 
 nice. She enjoy your desirous letter. 
 
 You are at Lago di Como ; there I would like be, 
 but is n't possible for me. How I shall be happy 
 if I did to meet you between the street as long as 
 you walk, but could n't be so. 
 
 I write you long letter but I should be never 
 tired when I am in writting to you because I do it 
 with all my affection. I wish you happiness with 
 joy and mirth. Excuse me if my position it is so 
 poor I could n't do the duty as you merit, but I 
 send you a simple flower with smelling from Capri 
 which you will accept with heart ; and please read 
 this letter both, with our hat off. 
 
 With kindly reguards, 
 
 Your dear 
 
 S. LUIGI 
 
 Excuse my confidence that I ask your fotograph. 
 Addio.
 
 CHAPTER XVIH 
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 
 
 EDWINA had a bright thought concerning Ober- 
 ammergau. It was to precede the crowd which 
 would arrive on the regular train from Munich, by 
 spending the night in some village close by the 
 Mecca of so many pilgrims, and thus be able to 
 arrive quietly and early in the morning at Ober- 
 ammergau. A search of her map revealed a place 
 called Murnau, whose description sounded like 
 what they were seeking ; so on the afternoon of 
 the twenty-second of June, in a beating rain-storm, 
 they drove to the station in Munich and took their 
 train. When at seven o'clock they arrived at their 
 destination the rain had ceased, and they seemed 
 to have reached Arcadia. The little lake called 
 the Staffen See smiled in the recovered sunlight, 
 and the thick woods glistened as they dried their 
 tears. 
 
 " Where 's the village ? Where 's anybody ? 
 Where 's anything?" asked Edwina laughing. 
 
 A rosy-cheeked little boy advanced to them, and 
 said something in German. The girl shook her 
 head, but helplessly yielded her belongings. He 
 slung the dress-suit case across his back, took a
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 307 
 
 bag in each hand, and started into a path that led 
 downhill through the still forest. 
 
 " Nobody lives here but fairies apparently," said 
 Edwina. " It 's my impression he is a gnome and 
 we 're going underground." 
 
 The path was so narrow they were obliged to 
 walk single file, and its steep windings were so 
 sudden that the little lad looked back from time to 
 time to see if they were following ; and he went so 
 nimbly that the crazy-quilt of labels on Edwina's 
 dress-suit case glimmering among the fir-trees was 
 their only beacon. Occasionally they met a man 
 with a feather in his alpine hat who said " Guten 
 Abend" as he strode by. Brooks gurgled beside 
 them, and after fifteen minutes' walk the woods 
 grew thinner, and a lovely streaked sky shone down 
 on the Staffen See and the little hotel that nestled 
 among huge trees on its shore. 
 
 " Did you ever see such a fascinating, lonely 
 place ! " ejaculated Edwina. " Cousin Eunice, I 
 shall never get you away from here. It is as still 
 as a picture." 
 
 They had the Kurhaus to themselves, as the 
 season had scarcely opened. The kindly French 
 landlord treated them with the utmost courtesy. 
 It was strange to have their choice of rooms, to 
 stroll through empty corridors where were cards 
 upon which Eunice gazed with worshiping eyes, 
 for they politely begged guests to close the doors 
 quietly. 
 
 " You can make the rest of the trip alone, Ned," 
 she said. " I '11 meet you at Hamburg."
 
 308 MISS PBITCHABD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 In the late twilight they looked out of their 
 windows upon more forest paths that led uphill 
 among the fir-trees, and with pangs to think they 
 could not linger for days and explore them, they 
 lay down to sleep in the cool balsamic silence. 
 
 Next morning early, although the host had as- 
 sured them that their bags would go with them to 
 the station " by favor of the little one," it was a 
 man who escorted them through the hushed green- 
 wood. It would have been a hard climb for the 
 rosy-cheeked laddie so laden, and they were glad 
 of the change. The porter, although they told 
 him they could not speak German, occasionally 
 made some friendly remark, and once he turned to 
 Edwina with a beaming countenance and said : 
 " Oberammergau ? " then pointing to the clear 
 sky: "Zu Christust" The girl replied in the 
 affirmative, and he went on with reverent manner 
 to state that he had seen the play. 
 
 When they reached a cleared spot, the man 
 stood still where lake and mountains formed a pic- 
 ture. "JEs ist schbn Deutschland? " he said. 
 
 It was schbn all the way that morning as their 
 train crept slowly up through banks and beds of 
 unrivaled wild flowers, and through the German 
 forests where every tree seems tended like a plant. 
 It was exciting to Edwina that they were really 
 nearing that little village in the Bavarian Alps 
 which has involuntarily grown world-famous. 
 
 " Do you know how the Passion Play came to 
 be given in the first place, cousin Eunice ? " she
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 309 
 
 asked, after a long silence occupied in gazing from 
 the car windows. 
 
 " Something about a plague, was n't it ? " 
 
 " Yes. In 1634 the plague raged here, and the 
 despairing peasants prayed to God, promising that 
 if He would arrest it they would in gratitude pre- 
 sent the Passion Play every ten years. The plague 
 ceased, the peasants kept their promise ; so natu- 
 rally after these centuries it is the ambition of 
 every child born in that village to be worthy some- 
 time to take part in the play. The fact of its 
 being given so seldom prevents a mercenary feel- 
 ing from creeping in, no doubt. Then until this 
 year there has been no railroad to the village, and 
 that has kept the people so remote and simple. 
 This is the first season this train has run." 
 
 " It goes as if it was n't used to it," remarked 
 Miss Pritchard. " I 've never said a word of my 
 feelings about this thing, Ned ; but from the first 
 it 's been against my better judgment to go to see 
 people try to act out the Gospel story. It still 
 makes me wince to think of it ; but I saw how it 
 was : it happened that we were over here in the 
 right year for it, and I saw how set you were on 
 going, so I said to myself that I would n't stand in 
 the way, because if I find it is irreverent or dis- 
 tasteful, I can leave the place and wait for you. 
 Perhaps you won't like it either." 
 
 " But remember how Mr. Champion felt about 
 it." These surroundings had double interest for 
 Edwina, inasmuch as her lover had so recently 
 been over the same ground.
 
 310 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Yes, but we don't know his standards about a 
 thing like this. What would shock us might not 
 shock him." 
 
 When the train finally crept into Oberammer- 
 gau and stopped, the eyes of our travelers were 
 first attracted by the flowing locks of the men and 
 boys, many of them in the Tyrolean costume. The 
 station was already a busy place, and events proved 
 that the catching of the early train had been of 
 great advantage. They repaired at once to the 
 Wohnungsbureau. While still in Cannes they 
 had engaged their seats for the play on June 
 twenty-fourth, in the hope that by so doing they 
 would get the sort of room so necessary to Miss 
 Pritchard's comfort. The officials had indeed re- 
 served for them two of their choicest rooms ; and 
 the handsome and amiable young man who speaks 
 English informed them with much satisfaction 
 that apartments had been assigned to them in the 
 house of the parish priest. 
 
 Here was an honor indeed, but the information 
 brought apprehension to Eunice's soul, which was 
 verified when they reached the pleasant and airy 
 domicile ; for it was indeed as close to the church 
 as the churchyard would permit, and the resonant 
 bell that pealed its clear note from end to end of 
 the village was directly overhead. Edwina knew 
 what this meant to her cousin. She found the 
 priest himself, discovered that he talked French, 
 and asked him if the large bell rang all night. He 
 bent his benevolent head and looked at her plea-
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 311 
 
 santly through his spectacles. " No indeed, Ma- 
 demoiselle. All night ! What an amusing idea ! " 
 and he threw back his head and laughed. 
 
 Much relieved, Edwina returned to the pleasant, 
 scrupulously clean rooms and told her cousin that 
 the bell was probably used only to announce ser- 
 vices. At that moment it rang three-quarters past 
 the hour with a full tone which seemed to be in 
 the room with them. The two looked at each 
 other. Edwina ran downstairs and knocked once 
 again at the priest's door. He came forth smiling 
 at his amusing young guest. 
 
 " The bell rings every quarter and the hour, all 
 night, does n't it? " she asked. 
 
 " Naturally, Mademoiselle," returned the priest, 
 smiling leniently. " That is so everywhere." 
 
 " Yes, I know it is ; but my friend cannot sleep 
 near a bell. We shall have to change our rooms. 
 Would you have the kindness to suggest another 
 house ? " 
 
 The priest's smile went out, and his spectacles 
 changed expression. " I don't know of any," he 
 replied briefly, and turned on his heel. 
 
 Edwina was desperate. She knew that the pre- 
 sent arrangement would mean two entirely sleep- 
 less nights to her cousin, so although Eunice was 
 mortified to cause so much trouble, the two set 
 forth at once for the Wohnungsbureau. 
 
 " Of course, we did n't know any especial house 
 to ask for," said Edwina comfortingly, " and who 
 could have dreamed that with four thousand peo-
 
 312 MISS PRITCHAE&S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 pie to provide rooms for, we should have been put 
 up against that only bell in the village ? " 
 
 " We applied so early, they gave us the very 
 best," said Eunice dismally. " No doubt the priest 
 is disgusted." 
 
 " He is. I suppose he is not used to having his 
 fine rooms scorned ; and of course he never notices 
 the bell." 
 
 " I should think he might understand. Some 
 people would rather sleep on a heap of straw than 
 be kept awake all night like a person under Chi- 
 nese torture." 
 
 They blessed all the fates that there was still an 
 hour before the multitude from Munich would 
 storm the town, and again they entered the Woh- 
 nungsbureau and threw themselves on the mercy 
 of the young man who spoke English. He kindly 
 looked over the books to see what might be ef- 
 fected, and at last advised them to go to the house 
 of the man who was to take the part of Samuel. 
 They did so and found the host to be a wood-carver 
 of gentle and noble countenance. He had the 
 rooms they wanted, but hesitated ; and on consul- 
 tation with his plump and rosy wife said he did 
 not dare give them to these ladies on account of 
 other parties who would come to claim them. 
 
 Edwina had very few German words at her com- 
 mand, but she used these zealously and eked out 
 her remarks by pantomime. At last the wood- 
 carver took his feathered hat from its nail, put it 
 on his flowing curls, and beckoned to Edwina.
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 313 
 
 She accompanied him to the Wohnungsbureau 
 eagerly. That amiable young man would smooth 
 her path and they could begin to be happy. But 
 when she entered, great was her disappointment 
 to discover that the Englishman had left the pre- 
 mises ; and worst of all, in his place stood the 
 parish priest buried in a ledger, and as soon as 
 he recognized Edwina, blind and deaf. The girl 
 spoke to him timidly. Was this the same face that 
 had beamed so blandly through his spectacles when 
 the priest first welcomed them beneath his roof ? 
 He had forgotten his French. Not a word would 
 he say, though he looked up at her once stonily. 
 When Samuel spoke to him he replied briefly in 
 German. The man explained the situation and 
 Edwina listened uncomprehending, her heart in 
 her mouth lest the offended official should forbid 
 the new arrangement. He did not, and for this 
 negative kindness she blessed him mentally, though 
 wondering and regretful to find so much benevo- 
 lence of manner to be only skin deep. 
 
 Silently she returned to the house beside her 
 host in his green Tyrolean costume, feeling acutely 
 the misfortune of having no means of communi- 
 cating with him. However, he made her under- 
 stand that they might remain ; and Miss Pritch- 
 ard's gratitude to her child can only be understood 
 by those to whom the daytime never repays five 
 minutes of sleep that is chased away by night. 
 The unwound watch, the untuned harp-strings, all 
 things nerveless and discordant are symbolized in
 
 314 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 the sufferings of the sleepless. Even the parish 
 priest's tolerance would have borne the strain had 
 he understood. 
 
 Once, some months after Eunice and Edwina's 
 return to America, they were talking with a lady 
 who had seen the Passion Play this summer. 
 
 " Where did you have your room ? " asked Miss 
 Pritchard. 
 
 " In the house of the parish priest," responded 
 her friend. 
 
 " But the bell ! " ejaculated Miss Pritchard. 
 
 " I love bells," said the lady placidly. 
 
 Eunice gazed at her in amazed fascination. 
 " You are wasted in America, then," she said at 
 last. " You ought to go right back to Europe and 
 stay there ! " 
 
 Our travelers began at once to roam about the 
 clean village with its quiet river, and houses deco- 
 rated outside with paintings of Bible scenes. The 
 mountains round about, and especially the majestic 
 Kof el, with its slender cross touching the blue of the 
 sky, appeared like guardians of its purity. The 
 broad-shouldered, flat-backed physique of the men 
 a round-shouldered or fat citizen seeming a phe- 
 nomenon and their friendly, clear, straight-for- 
 ward gaze, was very attractive. Every one greeted 
 every one else. It seemed to Eunice and Edwina 
 as if they could see in countless ways in this village 
 the effect of an all-pervading, uplifting thought 
 held for centuries. Babies who could barely toddle 
 came to them holding out their little palms not
 
 THE PASSION PLAT 315 
 
 for pfennige, but to shake hands. Many of the 
 men wore the Tyrolean dress : hats with curling 
 feather in the middle of the back, coat and knee- 
 breeches embroidered in green, with deer or some 
 hunting device, bare knees, heavy gray and green 
 hose reaching to the ankles only, and shoes. 
 
 At evening Eunice and Edwina watched the 
 cows come tinkling home in long procession, and 
 when night had fallen, the village band played 
 through the streets full glad strains which told 
 that on the morrow the sacred play would be given. 
 Edwina had in mind to attend the early church 
 service next morning, when the players would be 
 consecrated for the parts they were about to as- 
 sume ; but the falling rain dampened her ardor. 
 The play was to commence at eight o'clock, and 
 the rain continued until the crowds had reached 
 the theatre. The village streets presented a re- 
 markable sight. 
 
 At ordinary times people find it a little difficult 
 to get to church promptly by half past ten ; and a 
 sermon of half an hour is quite long enough. This 
 Sunday morning it appeared to be no trouble at 
 all for four thousand persons to pick their way 
 through rain and mud, and be quietly in their 
 places at eight o'clock. There they sat with one 
 intermission for lunch, until half past five, and no 
 one fidgeted, or yawned, or appeared fatigued. 
 Could any other story have held them ? 
 
 The audience was seated beneath a roof, but the 
 stage, two hundred feet in breadth, was open to
 
 316 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 the sky. A green hill rose behind it with groves 
 of trees. The streets of Jerusalem wound between 
 the houses of priests and rulers. The breeze lifted 
 the flowing hair of the actors as they came and 
 went, and such was the care with which they had 
 been selected for their parts, and the truthfulness 
 of their costuming, that to our travelers, fresh 
 from the world's great pictures, it seemed as if the 
 conceptions of Raphael, da Vinci, and del Sarto 
 had come down from the walls and were walking 
 about. 
 
 It took Eunice a short time to discover that she 
 need not have winced. Every feeling of reverence 
 that one can bring to the Passion Play will only be 
 enhanced by seeing it. It is a marvelous thing that 
 such a performance can be given in detail without 
 one jarring note, one overdone scene, or one deflec- 
 tion from good taste. 
 
 Josef Mayr, after having been for thirty years 
 prominent in the eyes of the people as the Christus, 
 has trained Anton Lang, his successor, and himself 
 lends the unapproached majesty of his presence to 
 the prologue which precedes each act ; and this 
 self-forgetful spirit is typical of the impersonality 
 of the work of these many hundreds of actors. 
 Their play is to them a sacred rite, and no one 
 conveys the impression of desiring to be observed. 
 All work together, earnestly and sincerely, toward 
 the attainment of a general perfection. 
 
 The rain ceased this morning at the opening of 
 the story ; and near its beginning, just as Mary
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 317 
 
 Magdalen threw herself at the feet of the Master, 
 the sun came out and glorified his beautiful head. 
 There were many striking coincidences of sun 
 effects all through the day, and no more rain. 
 
 When Mary pleaded with her son not to leave 
 her and go where danger awaited him, the pathos 
 of the scene was memorable. He reminded her of 
 their duty, and his final calm "Liebe Mutter!" 
 and her thrilling, quiet " Jesus, mein Sohn ! " 
 stirred the heart of every listener. 
 
 The scene in Gethsemane was touching beyond 
 words to express, and more moving still the mo- 
 ment when John brought Mary to Jerusalem to 
 search for her son. While they were wandering 
 they heard the cruel cries of the crowd, and Jesus 
 appeared, nearly crushed beneath the heavy cross. 
 The pitiful, broken cry of the mother, " Mein 
 Sohn I mein Kind ! " was never to be forgotten. 
 
 Yet all would perhaps agree that the Passion 
 Play was not a painful experience. The beauty 
 and strength of the Christus, his shining head 
 gleaming in the sunlight as he moved among the 
 adoring or hating people, made the impression 
 which prevailed. The ceremony of the Last Sup- 
 per was a scene for which to be lastingly grateful. 
 During the washing of the disciples' feet and the 
 giving of the bread and wine, an invisible angel 
 chorus sang softly from time to time. Every move- 
 ment was so graceful, so dignified and deliberate, 
 so adequate, as to be indescribable. 
 
 Peter's wretchedness at having; denied his mas-
 
 318 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 ter, Judas's craft and subsequent despair, were 
 given with a naturalness beyond mere acting. 
 Herod and Pilate in the rich vestments of the 
 Caesars endeavored not to convict Jesus, and Bar- 
 abbas was shown in all repulsive contrast to the 
 bound Nazarene ; but the shouting, ferocious crowd 
 demanded the crucifixion. 
 
 It is not told how the Christus is affixed to the 
 cross, but the illusion was perfect, and the long 
 scene marvelously given. The deposition from the 
 cross was tenderly and reverently accomplished, 
 and then the entombment. 
 
 In the next scene the stone fell with a crash 
 from the sepulchre and Christ appeared in shining 
 robes, while the soldiers were prostrated. The 
 ascension was made impressive, and left one mar- 
 veling and questioning how these peasants, without 
 the aid of make-up or artificial lights, in the open 
 air of day under the free sky, had so portrayed the 
 strongest story of all time with its holy passion and 
 miracle that the hushed audience, unconscious of 
 the passing hours, looked and listened spellbound, 
 and at last went on their ways, still in the spirit of 
 worship. 
 
 Out in the street Miss Pritchard saw one lady 
 meet a friend and heard her ask : " Have you 
 enjoyed the day ? " 
 
 The man replied : " If you will allow me to cor- 
 rect your expression, I appreciated the day. It 
 seems not right like sacrilege to say I enjoyed 
 it."
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 319 
 
 A little further along Eunice and Edvvina met 
 a young American who was also staying in the 
 house of Samuel, and with whom they had talked 
 the night before. He was alone, and seemed pleased 
 now to have encountered them. " May I go to 
 supper with you ? " he asked eagerly. 
 
 " Certainly," replied Eunice. " Where had we 
 better go ? " 
 
 " Anton Lang's father has an inn," replied the 
 young man, whose name was Norton. " Let us go 
 there. We might see Lang." 
 
 " I believe he never appears on the day of the 
 play," said Edwina, " and that certainly shows 
 good taste ; but let us go." 
 
 When they were seated in the low-ceiled dining, 
 room of the Lang homestead, and Mr. Norton, who 
 spoke German, had ordered their supper, Eunice 
 regarded him kindly. She could see that he was 
 feeling strongly. 
 
 " We have had a wonderful day," she said. 
 
 The young fellow nodded. " I 've been trying 
 to think how I could write home to my people 
 about it ; but there is nothing to do but to tell 
 them it is the most divine thing in performance 
 and effect that I ever experienced." His eyes 
 filled as he spoke. 
 
 As they began their supper, a number of broad- 
 shouldered wavy-haired men dropped in one by 
 one, all with the lovely expression in their faces, 
 and gathered at a neighboring table. Mr. Norton 
 asked their blonde Madchen if the man in the
 
 320 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 corner had not taken the part of Peter. She 
 glanced around the well-filled board as she nodded, 
 and said naively : " It is nothing but apostles." 
 All were there except John ; and our party glanced 
 often at the quiet, cheerful group conversing in low 
 tones as they ate. When the Americans rose, the 
 other company gave them a friendly look, and 
 Mr. Norton bowed and said : " Besten Gruss den 
 Herr'n Aposteln" and the men rose, and cour- 
 teously smiled and bowed a farewell. 
 
 The next morning their new friend accompanied 
 Eunice and Edwina to the shops of those actors 
 who had taken the principal parts in yesterday's 
 play. They found them besieged by people who, 
 like themselves, wished for a closer view of these 
 celebrities, and to procure specimens of their handi- 
 work. The dignity, simplicity, unconsciousness, 
 and ease of these peasants confronted by the eager 
 eyes and tongues of their admirers formed a strik- 
 ing lesson in good manners. 
 
 Our travelers first visited Peter Rendl, the 
 wood-carver, who had impersonated John. His 
 spiritual face, framed in long, dark hair, was more 
 attractive and beautiful the nearer one approached 
 him, and looked as if he had borne the image of 
 the beloved disciple in his heart during the ten 
 years since he had last taken the part. Edwiua 
 asked him for a photograph of John in a certain 
 size, and the manner of his reply that he had 
 not the Johannes in that size made it evident 
 that in his mind the Johannes was quite separate
 
 THE PASSION PLAY 321 
 
 from Peter Rendl. They bought pieces of his 
 carving upon which he wrote his name, and then 
 took their way to the shop of Anton Lang, the 
 potter, who, as the Christus, was this summer one 
 of the most famous men in Europe. Busts and 
 photographs of him, from life size down to the 
 miniature, appeared in thousands of windows in all 
 the large cities ; yet he was the most unconscious 
 person in his crowded shop this morning. Good- 
 ness and modest courtesy shone in his face as he 
 endeavored to satisfy the demands upon him ; and 
 his patience was unfailing, even with impertinent 
 and vulgar questions which certain curious ones 
 managed to have interpreted to him. Eunice and 
 Edwina's young escort, still glowing with the holy 
 fire of yesterday, waited only to hear one woman 
 demand of Lang if it did n't tire him to hang so 
 long on the cross, and then he excused himself to 
 his friends and said he would wait outside. 
 
 Left without his knowledge of German, Edwina 
 in her turn approached Lang and asked him to 
 write his name on some pieces of pottery. He had 
 been signing numbers of his photographs for his 
 admirers, and she made him understand that she 
 had his picture, but that to her that was the Chris- 
 tus ; she should prefer to have his name on his 
 work. He acquiesced with sweet comprehension of 
 the idea, and complied. Edwina told him that the 
 vases were to go to America. He expressed inter- 
 est that the ladies had come so far, and asked them 
 if they liked the play, and poor Edwina stammered
 
 322 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 among her adjectives to see if haply she might find 
 one which would be fit to apply here. The young 
 man caught her spirit at least, and his voice and 
 smile were very lovely as he hoped to see them 
 again in ten years, vielleicht friiher, and took 
 their hands at parting. 
 
 Finding Mr. Norton waiting patiently without, 
 they urged him to go in once more. After some 
 hesitation he obeyed, and finally rejoined them, a 
 satisfied light in his eyes. 
 
 The three took the train together for Munich. 
 A boy of twelve with golden curls hanging on his 
 shoulders had helped them with their bags. Mr. 
 Norton said to him in parting that perhaps ten 
 years hence he might be taking part in the Passion 
 Play. The boy looked straight before him. " One 
 cannot tell," he said. " One must live up to it." 
 
 That is the spirit that pervades the children of 
 Oberammergau. They have one ruling thought, 
 one zealous ambition, and the cross on the Kofel 
 is its symbol.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 SWITZERLAND 
 
 EUNICE and Edwina were as content in Munich 
 as tourists can be in Germany who are not conver- 
 sant with its language. The opera, the pictures, 
 driving in the English garden, strolling in the 
 Hofgarten, listening to the band in the Feldherrn 
 halle, were pleasures within their comprehension ; 
 but Edwina found many Germans to be like her 
 voluble chambermaid, who insisted on conversing 
 glibly in spite of the Americans' monosyllables. 
 
 Edwina's self-defensive and plaintive, "Aber 
 ich verstehe nicht Josefina ! " had only the effect 
 to make the pretty girl come a step nearer, speak 
 much louder, and gesture more wildly. Our 
 Americans felt sympathy for a countrywoman 
 whom they encountered, and who told a vivacious 
 tale of her recent embarrassments in traveling in 
 this strange land. 
 
 Once as she and a friend had been riding on the 
 railway, the train began to slacken. The guard 
 came in and said, " UmsteigenI " 1 The lady 
 looked up pleasantly and nodded. His brow grew 
 dark and he repeated loudly, " Umsteigen ! " 
 
 1 Change cars.
 
 324 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 "M'h'm," smiled the lady placidly. " UMBTEI- 
 GEN ! " roared the guard, shaking his fist in her 
 naive, bewildered face. Then he went out, and 
 the last thing she heard before he slammed the door 
 was " Umsteigen ! " 
 
 She turned to her friend : " Well, what 's the 
 matter with him, I should like to know ? You sit 
 at that window and I '11 sit at this, and we '11 watch 
 for Umsteigen, and when we get there we '11 see 
 what it 's like." 
 
 " I 've just made up my mind," added the lady 
 as her listeners laughed, " that I '11 never travel in 
 Germany again until I 've learned to umsteigen 
 and einsteigen and aussteigen with any of them." 
 
 It was in Berlin that Edwina found her greatest 
 difficulty in shopping, as up to that time she had 
 found French spoken everywhere. For a while 
 she was misled by the ignis fatuus of clerks who 
 were brought forward as speaking English, and 
 who directed them on wild goose chases, through 
 all sorts of misunderstandings. After being sent 
 far up Unter den Linden for certain silver hatpins, 
 only to find themselves confronted with a wigmaker 
 who was prepared to sell them hairpins, they tried 
 to shop by pantomime if necessary rather than be- 
 lieve what they were told. Once pantomime failed 
 them. Edwina wished to buy one of the little rub- 
 ber pigs which blow up into shape and collapse with 
 one expiring moan. They entered a shop where 
 they knew they were kept; but not seeing any, 
 they asked their regular question : " Do you speak 
 English?"
 
 SWITZERLAND 325 
 
 This always elicited one of two replies. One 
 was : " Leedle ; " the other, a shake of the head. 
 This time the man shook his head. 
 
 Edwina said : " Hdben Sie kleine " then turn- 
 ing desperately to her cousin : " Oh dear, what is 
 pig?" 
 
 Miss Pritchard felt like saying with the young 
 man at Naples : " You can search me ! " 
 
 Edwina turned back to the man. " Hdben Sie 
 
 Oh, you must know ! haben Sie ein kleine 
 
 Schinken?" J 
 
 The shopkeeper gave one stare, and then 
 rose brilliantly to the emergency: "Ach, jaf 
 Schtoeinchen Schweinchen ! Wie viel Schwein- 
 chen, Fr'dulein ? " 
 
 But before Berlin came the visit to Switzerland. 
 
 On the Fourth of July Eunice and Edwina 
 were in Lucerne, where they stayed for a week 
 doing homage to the Rigi, and Pilatus, and cruising 
 amid the wonderful lake scenery in the intervals 
 of cold rains. Next came Interlaken ; but they 
 seemed to feel nearer to the Jungf ran at the neigh- 
 boring village of Wilderswyl, so they took up their 
 abode in a little hotel standing in a green field 
 with apple and cherry trees and a rushing river as 
 the most exciting neighbors : a spot after Eunice's 
 own heart. There was nothing between her win- 
 dows and the regal Jungfrau except the swelling 
 velvet hills, tree-laden, which framed its dazzling 
 whiteness. 
 
 1 Ham.
 
 326 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Their good fortune in weather returned in force ; 
 and as rains are so frequent in the mountains, this 
 cloudless season drove tourists from one excursion 
 to another. Eunice and Edwina, the morning 
 after their arrival, took the little mountain train 
 for the Schynige Platte, six thousand feet above. 
 Behind the open car was an odd little engine that 
 seemed to get its head down and push the car up 
 the mountain steep, by clutching each foot of the 
 way with its iron hands and feet. The motion was 
 wonderfully smooth, and the excursion excitingly 
 beautiful. The road wound in such a way that the 
 scene constantly changed. They passed amid banks 
 of wild flowers, past steep cascades, through leafy 
 forests and verdant fields, and gradually dominated 
 the deep valleys and lakes, feeling conscious of 
 that overwhelming sense of inadequacy which 
 oppresses sensitive natures at the first comprehen- 
 sive view of grand mountain scenery. 
 
 When the Platte was reached Eunice and Edwina 
 stood on the terrace commanding the snow range 
 whose dazzling fields seemed but a stone's toss 
 away. Then they took the twenty minutes' climb 
 to the horn called the Daube and looked down. 
 The lakes of Brienz and Thun, connected by the 
 fine winding ribbon of the canal, looked like small 
 patches of pale green ice. On the way back to the 
 Platte hotel, Eunice sat down amid acres of forget- 
 me-nots, violets, and buttercups, and feasted her 
 eyes on their simpler beauties. 
 
 The little chalets on the mountain sides looked
 
 SWITZEBLAND 327 
 
 like bird houses, and the near views of them which 
 Eunice and Edwina obtained walking after tea 
 about Wilderswyl, made them wonder why such 
 simple, picturesque houses were not imitated in 
 villages at home. Often a pious legend was carved 
 in wood across the facade, often their balconies 
 were red and white with overhanging geraniums, 
 but always they were attractive, and the courtesy 
 of the village people recalled Oberammergau. No 
 matter how rough in appearance the man, woman, 
 or child they passed in the quiet lanes, a Gruss 
 was sure to be said, often rebuking their own 
 American lack of courtesy. 
 
 One day they spent on Lake Thun, viewing 
 Oberhofen and its other attractions, and another 
 they took the mountain car to Lauterbrunnen, in 
 the midst of its waterfalls. Then skyward over 
 the Wengern Alp straight into the snow mountains 
 toward the Eiger-gletsch. The white satin sides 
 and peaks of the Schneehorn and the Silberhorn 
 gleamed against the blue of heaven with awe-inspir- 
 ing purity ; and when, after the wondrous ascent 
 with its nearer and changing views of the famous 
 range, the pilgrims left their little car, they found 
 themselves close to the great trio, the Jungfrau, 
 the Monch, and the Eiger. Across a descending 
 snow-field lay the glacier toward which many of 
 the tourists set out. 
 
 " Come, cousin Eunice," said Edwina in a mat- 
 ter-of-course tone, although she knew that next to 
 night-noises in Miss Pritcnard's list of aversions 
 came slippery walking.
 
 328 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " No, you go on. I '11 sit right here in the sun- 
 shine and wait for you," returned her cousin, after 
 one glance over the snowy billows. 
 
 " Are n't you afraid a German tourist will come 
 and talk to you ? " Edwina smiled as she suggested 
 the counter-irritant. Miss Pritchard had already 
 freed her mind concerning the enormous men with 
 feathered hats and seal rings on their forefingers 
 who take up two places in the car, knock your purse 
 from your hand, and then exhort you to behold the 
 wunderschbne blick ! All her doubts of the male 
 sex came to an emphatic certainty when the foreign 
 masculine tourist was in question. 
 
 " You know you '11 be sorry if you miss it," 
 added Edwina. 
 
 Miss Pritchard wavered. She took a measuring 
 glance. " It does n't look very far, does it ? " she 
 remarked. 
 
 " No, it 's nothing. Let us start." 
 
 Eunice's spirit of enterprise conquered until she 
 had taken a few steps down the icy path. " No, 
 no, Ned. This is against my better judgment. 
 Let me stay. If anybody speaks to me, I '11 just 
 say ' Nein.' " 
 
 " Oh, nonsense, little Eunice. I could hold up 
 two of you." 
 
 For a time all did go well, but at last the path 
 narrowed and grew steeper. Moreover, the further 
 they went, the more the glacier retreated. 
 
 "When shall I learn to trust my intuitions?' 7 
 gasped Miss Pritchard, scant of breath. Her stern,
 
 SWITZERLAND 329 
 
 martyred countenance endangered Edwina's self- 
 control during all the ups and downs of the transit; 
 but at last they drew near the mass of green ice. 
 
 " We 're there see ! " said Edwina, pointing 
 to the artificial opening which had been made in 
 the clear ice revealing a frozen corridor. 
 
 " Are you going in there ? " desperately. 
 
 " I don't care about it. We see the forma- 
 tion." 
 
 " I should think so ! " returned Miss Pritchard, 
 giving excited vent to her feelings. " It 's a sin- 
 ful waste of the middle of July to skate and slip 
 and freeze around a mountain like this ! The 
 Creator meant such places to be inaccessible to 
 man, of course He did ; but nothing would do 
 but we must leave the flowers and birds and manage 
 to get here somehow, just like Bluebeard's wife go- 
 ing into the forbidden closet ; and you know I '11 
 never get up that hill in this world, Edwina 
 Wilder. When I tell you distinctly that a thing 
 is against my better judgment I should think " 
 
 But Edwina, struggling with her risibles and 
 knowing that she would require all her breath for 
 the return trip, seized Eunice's hand comfortingly 
 and patted it as it lay in her arm. " Now we 're 
 going to take our time and enjoy it," she said, 
 drawing her timorous cousin along. 
 
 " Enjoy it ! I shall say hymns. I did all the 
 way down." 
 
 " Patriotic hymns ? " 
 
 " No. I did n't need to. America is good
 
 330 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 enough for anybody. Real hymns : ' My days are 
 gliding swiftly by,' and ' In the hour of trial,' 
 and" 
 
 " O cousin Eunice, don't ! " implored Edwina, 
 her throat convulsing, for Miss Pritchard's unsteady 
 little feet were slipping about and jerking the words 
 out of her. 
 
 Men with sledges accosted them, inviting them 
 to coast. Inarticulate contempt from Eunice 
 greeted the suggestion. Edwina expected every 
 minute to hear her invoke Howard Champion ; but 
 apparently the present difficulty precluded com- 
 forting thoughts, and they plodded on in silence. 
 
 " I have n't even got on my right glasses ! " 
 said Eunice after an unexpected step when Edwina 
 just saved her from a downfall. 
 
 " You 're doing beautifully, dear. Now, this is 
 the last steep place." 
 
 " Oh the last ! " scornfully. 
 
 " Yes, the rest is more level and soft." 
 
 They pushed on, Miss Pritchard with one eye 
 shut the better to see, and an expression as of a 
 martyr on her way to the stake. Suddenly there 
 came a treacherous hollow, Eunice's foot slipped, 
 and she fell into a drift. " There I go!" she 
 announced in a tone which put the climax upon all 
 which had preceded. Edwina gave up and laughed 
 immoderately, even while she was helping her 
 cousin to rise. A massive German woman was 
 just starting doubtfully and slowly down the path. 
 She saw Miss Pritchard fall, and paused to view
 
 SWITZERLAND 331 
 
 the scene with a serious countenance. Edwina's 
 irrepressible hilarity caused her at first to wonder, 
 then to relax into a faint smile ; but evidently the 
 circumstance decided her as to the vanity of gla- 
 ciers, for she ponderously and slowly wheeled 
 about and retraced her steps. 
 
 " Look, what a mercy it was that you went 
 down ! " gurgled Edwina, whisking the snow from 
 her cousin's side. " If that woman had gone on 
 and fallen, the eternal glacier would have cracked 
 from stem to stern." 
 
 Eunice, in the nearness of the station platform, 
 was able to laugh too. " Our feet are just soaking, 
 Ned Wilder." 
 
 " I know it, you poor little dear. I 'm awfully 
 penitent for making you go ; but we shall be dry 
 in five minutes in that tremendous sunshine." 
 
 This proved a true prophecy, and they took the 
 next car down to lovely Grindelwald. 
 
 Those mornings and evenings on their balcony 
 at Wilderswyl, with the Jungfrau before them in 
 her varying moods, and no sound more disturbing 
 that the river rushing beneath the foothills, were 
 a certain good which Miss Pritchard was loath to 
 leave. She had learned, however, to put great 
 trust in Edwina's planning, so was able to be 
 cheerful one morning when they again took the 
 steamer on the lake and rode past the romantic 
 Giessbach Fall, back to Brienz. Going by train 
 from that point to Meiringen, they engaged the 
 coupe seats in the diligence for the Grimsel Pass
 
 332 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 and then went to a hotel to dinner. The noonday 
 heat was oppressive as it beat upon the roof of the 
 cushioned coupe when they were ready to start. 
 
 " Ned, dear, I suppose you did the best you 
 could. Those outside seats do look so comfort- 
 able." 
 
 " And cost less," returned Edwina. " Is n't it 
 too bad ; but there was only one to be had, and I 
 did n't think you 'd like us to be separated so 
 many hours." 
 
 " Are we going to sit in this thing for hours ? " 
 
 " Not at this temperature, I hope. Don't these 
 golf capes and furs look ridiculous ! Let 's put 
 them under our feet." The girl then proceeded 
 to let down the four windows of their padded hot- 
 box, and in a few minutes the five restless horses 
 started, and new combinations of Switzerland's 
 beauty began to be displayed. 
 
 For seven hours they mounted. They passed 
 herds of cows and goats with their clinking bells 
 grazing high on the Alps, then wound above them, 
 up, up, till they looked like black and white beans 
 rolling about below. Water fell from impressive 
 heights. Once two boiling cataracts collided as 
 they fell with terrific force, making ceaseless and 
 deafening turmoil. Fields of Alpine roses spread 
 patches of pink among the green. Mountain 
 streams rushed madly over and around the ob- 
 structions in their paths. The temperature soon 
 grew comfortable, then cool, then began to gain a 
 frosty quality which caused the despised wraps to
 
 SWITZERLAND 333 
 
 be lifted from the floor of the coupe. After a 
 time, vegetation left behind, the bank beside the 
 diligence showed layers of snow several feet in 
 thickness, and Edwina was obliged to close the 
 coupe windows against the chilling atmosphere of 
 the late afternoon. At last those interminable 
 ascending zigzag roads led out upon a level, and a 
 solitary little mountain lake showed upon the bleak 
 height. 
 
 Then followed a novel drive down hill toward 
 the hotel of the Rhone Glacier. " I suppose it is 
 perfectly safe, of course," said Miss Pritchard, as 
 the five horses, having gone at a lively trot down 
 the first section of the zigzag descent, swung 
 around the corner into the next stretch with un- 
 abated speed. 
 
 " Is n't it fine ! " returned Edwina. " It is as 
 good as driving a Roman chariot race, with none 
 of the responsibility." 
 
 The driver's seat being above the coupe, no- 
 thing obstructed their view of the horses. 
 
 " See them do the outer edge as we swing 
 around corners. Are n't they graceful ? I feel 
 as if I ought to stand up and let my hair fly back 
 and get hold of the reins." 
 
 " It 's a mercy you can't ! " 
 
 " And there 's the glacier." 
 
 " Don't you say ' glacier ' to me ! " 
 
 " You don't object to looking at it, do you ? 
 You '11 never have another chance, perhaps, to see 
 six miles of glacier."
 
 334 MISS PRITCHARVS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " But what are those bright blue patches on 
 it?" 
 
 " I can't imagine. You shall climb up in the 
 morning and tell me." 
 
 Miss Pritchard would have smiled if the horses 
 had n't been going so fast, but she was keeping one 
 eye on them, and was glad when the diligence finally 
 drew up before the hotel, set in such grand and 
 solitary spaces for the accommodation of pilgrims 
 to the great Rhone Glacier. The passengers, well 
 wrapped, and with noses and ears red with the cold, 
 alighted. How cheery the large open fire looked, 
 glowing in the hotel, how sharp were the appetites 
 for supper, and how Miss Pritchard slept under 
 downy blankets in the coolness and stillness ! 
 
 Edwina laughed about it in the morning. " It 
 was made to order for you, was n't it, dear ! Moun- 
 tain passes between you and any neighbor is your 
 ideal." 
 
 " Yes, I 've about decided to stay here, the 
 world forgetting and by the world forgot." 
 
 " Supposing we visit the glacier first," suggested 
 Edwina. 
 
 " I guess not ! " 
 
 " Why, of course you will," said the girl, laugh- 
 ing. "It is nothing like the other. A stroll 
 through this little level valley, that 's all." 
 
 And Miss Pritchard, half-incredulous, and ready 
 to turn back at the first suggestion of snow, found 
 this to be true. The two as tkey walked through 
 the brisk morning air kept their eyes on the dashes
 
 SWITZERLAND 335 
 
 of dark vivid blue that patched the glacier so 
 mysteriously. They proved to be jagged holes 
 and fissures in the dull snowy exterior of the 
 mountain, revealing its brilliant ice. At the foot 
 was a splendid natural arch shot with indigo, from 
 which issued a little streamlet, not very clear by 
 reason of its mixture with snow ; an unimportant 
 little brook, apparently, yet hurried and impetuous 
 in its movement from the very first, as if it knew 
 what a work it was to perform in the world. 
 Eunice and Edwina viewed it with interest, for 
 underneath this regal arch of solid crystal they 
 were seeing the birth of the Rhone River. 
 
 At noon of that day they again took places in 
 the diligence and continued the descent of the 
 mountain. The first vegetation they reached con- 
 sisted of fir-trees, and all the air turned balsamic ; 
 then came a gradual return to the lavish summer 
 flowering of tree and shrub and plant, before they 
 struck into the level road that leads to Brigue. 
 As in Scotland last season, so in Switzerland now, 
 the weather made continual exceptions in favor 
 of these travelers. Through the grand gorges, 
 and by the boiling torrents, to Zermatt they went, 
 and after worshiping at the shrine of the Matter- 
 horn, the Weisshorn, and the Breithorn, came on 
 to Montreux and sailed for hours through the 
 royally blue waters of Lake Leman to Geneva. 
 The Rhone River, after its impetuous and wild 
 youth, plunges through the waters of this lake 
 and emerges to flow on, so strong, broad, clear,
 
 336 JfISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 and reposeful, that Eunice and Edwina, remem- 
 bering the weak, ambitious baby they had seen at 
 the glacier, seemed to see the symbolization of a 
 human soul. 
 
 One morning early they took the train for St. 
 Gervais, and thence by stage to Chamonix. They 
 thought themselves inured to the beauties of moun- 
 tain scenery, and the varied views of the snow 
 range as they ascended, though inspiring, were 
 familiar, until they reached the spot where for the 
 first time Mont Blanc lifted " its stupendous man- 
 tle of snow " against the fleckless blue of heaven. 
 That was a moment when words failed. The road 
 skirted huge glaciers as they approached Cha- 
 monix. It was their plan to remain there only for 
 the day. For hours they walked and sat, always 
 watching the " queen of European mountains," 
 always grateful to the fleecy clouds which as they 
 began to touch the sky here and there never veiled 
 her dazzling beauty, until they were starting to 
 drive back to St. Gervais. 
 
 The travelers had been on their way but a short 
 time when turning, they found a bank of gray 
 cloud had formed and fallen, entirely obscuring 
 the lower portion of the mountain. The effect of 
 increased height was startling as the vast, solid, 
 pure snow mound appeared, apparently unsup- 
 ported, in the very sky ; but later came the climax. 
 It was our travelers' good fortune to have all the 
 clouds disappear and the rare, the wonderful Al- 
 penglow cover Mont Blanc. Forty miles away in
 
 SWITZERLAND 337 
 
 Geneva the people were gathering on the Quai to 
 gaze at the flush they could view at that distance, 
 but here the sight was so supernatural in its beauty 
 that Eunice and Edwina always afterward felt as 
 if they must have seen into the other world. The 
 colossal mountain was apparently entirely of glow- 
 ing, translucent flame. 
 
 The exalting thrill of the sight held them spell- 
 bound long after they had passed from it ; but in 
 a wild and lonely locality another novel circum- 
 stance brought them to earth figuratively, and 
 came dangerously near doing so literally. Their 
 stage was one which ran in connection with the last 
 train leaving St. Gervais that night for Geneva. 
 Nine Americans on it had their tickets for the early 
 morning train for Paris. At the top of a hill the 
 brake broke, and the stage chased the horses down 
 the narrow incline, swinging from side to side until 
 most of the passengers on top were pale from the 
 motion as well as from fright. 
 
 One woman threw both her arms around Edwina 
 and clung there, despite the fact that the girl had 
 hers clasping Miss Pritchard. As soon as they 
 reached a level the driver got down and mended 
 the brake as well as he could. Starting, it held 
 only for a few rods, and again the stage could only 
 be controlled by holding the horses in at a snail's 
 pace, which would never reach the depot in time 
 for the train. The entire distance to St. Gervais 
 being down hill, the problem became serious. 
 One man's fears overcoming him, he descended
 
 338 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 and started off to walk. Then came alternations 
 of rushing, swinging, and halting, and a stout man 
 inside put his head out at each stop to inquire in 
 French if they were about to be upset down a 
 precipice. 
 
 The poor driver had exhausted his ingenuity, 
 and as they luckily reached an inn, the men about 
 the place joined with him in the effort to repair 
 damages. But twilight was falling, and the ner- 
 vous passengers began to try to get another con- 
 veyance. To their astonishment and chagrin, this 
 was impossible. Vainly they offered high prices to 
 the phlegmatic head of the establishment. The 
 only horses he had were due to take a trip for 
 which such a proceeding would unfit them. 
 
 One of the girls began to cry and to announce 
 emphatically that she would not stay there ! No- 
 thing should induce her to stay there ! This de- 
 claration made Edwina smile, even though the time 
 was already growing so short as to make catching 
 the train difficult under the best circumstances. 
 
 Just as they were all in despair, another stage 
 came into sight on the road, and going in the right 
 direction. Nobody ever understood how it came to 
 be nearly empty ; but so it was, and there began a 
 brisk descent from the broken vehicle. Had the 
 driver of the new one declined to stop, there is no 
 telling what would have occurred ; but he did stop, 
 and the eager passengers had mounted in a twin- 
 kling and were off. They studied their watches and 
 urged the driver, but he was sulky and would give
 
 SWITZERLAND 339 
 
 them no satisfaction. Long before they reached 
 St. Gervais their own stage came recklessly fast in 
 pursuit and the driver called to get his passengers 
 back, in terror, no doubt, of his employers ; but the 
 new driver whipped his horses and paid no atten- 
 tion. He had no idea of relinquishing the money 
 he expected to secure from the railroad company. 
 
 As they neared St. Gervais they met men anx- 
 iously running up the road to search for them. 
 These with gestures urged them on. The train was 
 being held for them. Galloping to the depot, they 
 rushed from the stage across the platform and 
 boarded the train with sighs of relief, notwith- 
 standing their famished condition. Edwina had 
 bought buns and pears for her own and her cousin's 
 supper, and these they cut up and divided with the 
 six Americans who shared their compartment. 
 Otherwise they went empty until midnight, when 
 they reached their pension in Geneva. 
 
 It was, of course, nothing new for these two to 
 leave a foreign city with regret ; but surely there 
 are not many places with Geneva's summer heat 
 which can boast an utter absence of insects, even 
 of flies, in August. Not only did they never see a 
 mosquito, but although the windows of the pension 
 were constantly open, and uncovered bowls of 
 honey garnished the breakfast table, no fly was ever 
 known to approach their sweetness. 
 
 " How do you explain it ? " Edwina often asked 
 their little French landlady ; and the latter would 
 fling out her hands dramatically ; "e/e ne Vexplique 
 pas!"
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 
 
 THE next great picture which nature presented 
 to the travelers was found at Neuhausen, where 
 they went to view the Falls of the Rhine. Their 
 room at the Schweizerhof was a proscenium box 
 commanding the famous scene. They looked down 
 on the thickly wooded banks of the curving river, 
 on the gray old castle at the right, and the bridge 
 with its nine arches which spans the emerald water 
 before it rushes into the foam of the broad cataract. 
 A kind favor of fortune provided a full, clear moon 
 to enhance the charm of the picture, and later in 
 the evening artificial lights, both white and colored, 
 illumined the Falls and castle. 
 
 The gardens and avenues about the hotel were 
 charming in their floral and leafy display after 
 forty years' assiduous care, and Miss Pritchard re- 
 luctantly mounted next morning into the 'bus for 
 Schaffhausen. Scarcely had they left the hotel 
 grounds, however, before a circumstance entirely 
 diverted her thoughts. The strong horses stopped 
 suddenly on a rise of ground, and as Eunice looked 
 inquiringly for the trouble, she gave a tragic ex- 
 clamation.
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 341 
 
 " Oh Ned, a great big ox has got right in the 
 way ! There 's a man pushing it. Oh, I hope they 
 won't hurt the poor thing ! He 's stopped us right 
 on a hill ! What will they do ? " 
 
 Edwina leaned forward to look, and in half a 
 minute the ox moved on and the horses after it. 
 The girl laughed. 
 
 " You don't mean it 's drawing us, Ned ? " 
 
 " It certainly is. The problem is solved." 
 
 Schaffhausen being the border line for Germany, 
 there was some delay at the customs, and then our 
 travelers went smoothly on to Nuremberg. To 
 Edwina it was the city of the Meistersingers, and 
 their hotel was so environed with cobblestones, she 
 felt certain that " Walther " must have been obliged 
 to go out into the suburbs to compose the " Prize 
 Song." They stayed several days in this pictur- 
 esque city, visiting all the famous spots and taking 
 long walks, with pauses on the bridges at sunset. 
 
 Eunice's interest in foreign shops had been in- 
 creasing of late, possibly according to the saying 
 that blessings brighten as they take their flight. 
 One evening, as they were wandering she looked 
 across the street. " I want to go over to that lin- 
 gery window," she said. 
 
 " You 're rather ambiguous," said Edwina. 
 " We have such a fixed habit of shop windows, 
 they 're all lingery windows to us ; " but she saw 
 a Lingerie over the way, so they crossed. 
 
 Miss Pritchard looked reflectively for a minute 
 at the black and white ribbon that had attracted
 
 342 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 her attention, and then said she believed she would 
 go in and buy two litres of it. 
 
 Leaving Nuremberg, they proceeded to Dresden, 
 where they stayed to see the pictures, and then 
 went on to Berlin. One day while there Edwina 
 turned to Miss Pritchard. " Do you know, cousin 
 Eunice, that two weeks from to-day we sail for 
 home?" 
 
 Eunice clasped her hands and sighed dismally. 
 " Dear me ! " she cried. " I don't know which 
 way to be homesick ! " 
 
 And so, feeling that the time was short, they 
 enjoyed sightseeing with quite renewed zest. The 
 cleanliness, beauty, and coolness of Berlin under 
 the azure sky were a surprise to these tourists. The 
 word palace had come to rouse every evil instinct 
 of their natures, so bored had they often been by 
 dreary pilgrimages through monotonous, unused 
 rooms, and the one at Charlottenburg seemed to 
 add insult to injury in forcing the visitors to scuff 
 about in those hot felt slippers which one connects 
 with Widow Tibbetts in the tale of Max and Mau- 
 rice. However, it is darkest just before day, and 
 Potsdam was to come and repay all past wrongs 
 and sufferings by the ideal home at Babelsburg, 
 the romantic charm of Sans Souci, where the 
 waters were springing, as one German had assured 
 them they would be, the Italian beauty of the 
 Orangerie, and the famous shell-room of the Neues- 
 palais ; that large submarine grotto composed en- 
 tirely of shells of every hue and semi-precious
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 343 
 
 stones, interesting aside from itself in being the 
 room where the Emperor and his ideal family hold 
 their Christmas and other festivities. Beside 
 these there were many other joys at Potsdam, to 
 all of which Eunice and Edwina did justice. 
 
 It was in Berlin that Miss Pritchard passed out 
 from under her courier's control with regard to 
 shopping. " I 've always heard that Germany was 
 the place to buy linen," she replied when Edwina 
 questioned her interest in napery. " You will be 
 out of school, and you will be wanting to entertain, 
 Ned. I want you to do it as prettily as any of 
 the girls." It was the first reference Eunice had 
 made to prospects on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 
 " I shall not entertain much. It would be a 
 great bother to you, cousin Eunice, so don't buy 
 such expensive things." 
 
 But Eunice loved fine linen, and the shopkeepers 
 tempted her so successfully that Edwina protested 
 more than once as tablecloths, napkins, and centre- 
 pieces of satin-like texture, exquisite designs, and 
 delicate embroidery, were one after another ac- 
 cepted. 
 
 " Are you forgetting the customs, cousin Eu- 
 nice ? " asked Edwina at last. 
 
 " Let me alone, Ned. I 'm having a splendid 
 time," was the only response. 
 
 They had called the roll of their trunks, some 
 from Paris and some from Cannes, and at last all 
 were packed and ready to start for Hamburg. 
 The few days spent in the latter city were very
 
 344 MISS PEITCHARD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 pleasant. There was such a sense of irresponsibility 
 in having given up all luggage except, such as they 
 could carry in their hands, to the steamship com- 
 pany's care. Now there was nothing to do but kill 
 time in the attractive seaport. 
 
 They were to sail on Sunday. Saturday evening 
 after Edwina had retired, she lay awake for a long 
 time, thinking. This was her last night in a for- 
 eign land; the last night of the trip which always 
 would be the great event of her life, since it had 
 brought her Champion's love. She thought back 
 to the first day out from New York, when she had 
 noticed him in the dining saloon of the ship. From 
 that her memory deliberately rehearsed the year's 
 events ; and while she thought, a chime of bells 
 began to play a hymn. This had not occurred on 
 the previous evenings. Probably it was a Satur- 
 day night ceremony ; but to Edwina the music was 
 the out- voluntary of her trip. Two parts were car- 
 ried by the bells in remarkable accord, and the 
 slow, persistent sweetness of the dignified old 
 choral, repeated again and again through the even- 
 ing stillness, accompanied and added significance 
 to the impressions that surged through her brain. 
 
 " Whatever comes, I have had this year," she 
 thought, as disturbing reflections arose. " What- 
 ever comes, I have had this year." 
 
 Champion had faithfully abstained from writing 
 her, and she knew what it must have cost him. 
 In his letters to Miss Pritchard he had made 
 no reference to returning to America. Of course,
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 345 
 
 Edwina suspected his intention to return on their 
 ship, and read his failure to mention it as a fear 
 that she might request him not to do so ; but her 
 opportunities of communication with him had been 
 so scanty she was not certain but that his profes- 
 sional plans would detain him past their sailing 
 date. If he did not appear on the ship, she had 
 made up her mind to break the truth to Miss 
 Pritchard before they should reach New York 
 Harbor. If he did how strong and sweet rang 
 out the old choral ! she should see him in three 
 days at farthest. Not a thought could she form 
 beyond this, and she went to sleep with it close, 
 close at her heart. 
 
 Miss Pritchard, in a cosy room to which the 
 chimes did not penetrate, was fortunate enough to 
 have no thoughts during the night ; but the morn- 
 ing brought many. She was so absorbed while 
 they were riding in the train to Cuxhaven that she 
 did not remark Edwina's silence. To-day closed 
 the most precious, brightest chapter in her life's 
 history. That which had so long been postponed 
 to a vague future was now hard upon her, and she 
 tried to prepare her mind to face the new order of 
 things. If only Edwina had been an unattractive, 
 plain girl ! But Eunice quickly renounced that 
 aspiration, for in such a case the child would not 
 have resembled her father. It filled her with a 
 sort of wonder at herself to mark with what light- 
 ning quickness the thought arose ; and her face 
 grew sad as she pondered on the nature of woman,
 
 346 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 and how futile it was for her to hope to stem the 
 tide in the next generation. When more than an 
 hour had passed and she still kept silence, Edwina 
 leaned toward her. 
 
 " I had no idea it was such a long ride, had 
 
 you?" 
 
 " No, I supposed we might be on the train half 
 an hour." 
 
 " I hope you are not borrowing trouble about 
 the voyage," continued the girl. " This trip has 
 made you so strong that you can laugh at the 
 waves. Remember the Channel." 
 
 Eunice regarded her with pensive affection. 
 " Is n't it wonderful that the time has really come 
 to go home ? It has seemed far off for so long. 
 I feel very sentimental, somehow, Ned." 
 
 " Yes, have n't we had a perfect time ? " re- 
 sponded the girl, leaning her head against the cush- 
 ions close to her cousin. " Shan't we live on it 
 for years ? Sentimental why, I 'm a mush of 
 sentiment, cousin Eunice ! Unburden your heart 
 as much as you like." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's breath caught in a deep uncon- 
 scious sigh. It was so impossible to accept this 
 invitation. 
 
 Long, long stretches of green meadows, and at 
 last the travelers began to see the tops of masts 
 apparently growing from the salt marshes. The 
 train was long and loaded, and when Cuxhaven 
 was reached it was a weary time before all the 
 tickets, first-class and second-class, and steerage,
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 347 
 
 could be examined and the passengers pass on to 
 the tender. All eyes were fixed on the handsome 
 Patricia waiting at anchor. Eunice and Edwina's 
 feet abandoned the foreign soil reluctantly, and 
 as the tender steamed away, the band on the great 
 steamer began to play the Austrian Hymn. Full 
 and clear it rang across the water, chiming too 
 touchingly with their sensitive mood, and they 
 looked at each other through dim eyes. The tender 
 approached the ship. The hymn finished, and im- 
 mediately the band began to play "The Star 
 Spangled Banner." 
 
 " Oh Ned ! " wailed Miss Pritchard. " I did n't 
 know I had so much wickedness in me! That 
 doesn't sound half so well as the other." 
 
 " You see, it 's time I took you home," returned 
 the girl. 
 
 During the first twenty-four hours of the voyage 
 they passed through rough water, and Edwina de- 
 voted herself to her cousin, who by dint of taking 
 her meals on deck, maintained her equilibrium. 
 When they anchored at Boulogne, Miss Pritchard 
 moved to the boat's side with a crowd of her neigh- 
 bors to see the tender come out. The band played 
 the Austrian Hymn again, and she looked at the 
 shores of France with wistful eyes. Two gray 
 old windmills were turning on a green hill. Soon 
 the strains of the Marseillaise made martial 
 melody. The tender was approaching, and in a 
 few minutes Miss Pritchard began to see strange 
 faces appearing about her as the new arrivals
 
 348 MISS PRITCIIAR&S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 rushed hither and thither, all at one time demand- 
 ing chairs of the distracted deck steward. 
 
 Only now did Eunice observe that Edwina 
 was not by her side. She had been there but a 
 few moments ago ; but suddenly a familiar face 
 and form approached, hands outstretched. " Mr. 
 Champion ! " exclaimed Miss Pritchard. " We 
 had n't an idea you were coming." 
 
 " Of course not," he returned, half laughing. 
 " I knew there was many a slip betwixt cup and 
 lip, and thought I would surprise you if I could." 
 
 " And you could," said Edwina, who now made 
 her appearance. " Cousin Eunice, what an un- 
 candid correspondent you have." She was a little 
 pale in the brisk breeze as she greeted him, but 
 her manner was composed. 
 
 " I knew Miss Pritchard could n't very well get 
 home without me. I did n't want her to try, any- 
 way." 
 
 " Oh, I 'm a proud lady since we crossed the 
 Channel," said Eunice. " I have n't an idea of 
 giving out on this voyage." 
 
 " Good enough ! We '11 go to walk every day 
 and you shall see another side of ocean travel. Au 
 revoir ; I suppose I had better look up my room." 
 
 When his tall and joyous person had vanished, 
 Eunice looked at Edwina, who felt the color flood- 
 ing back into her face. 
 
 " Well, is n't that surprising ? " asked Miss 
 Pritchard. " How did he manage it at such a full 
 season ? "
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 349 
 
 " I think a certain small person must have told 
 tales long, long ago ; but I 'm not going to scold 
 you, cousin Eunice." 
 
 " I 'd better go to my chair, now, though, Ned. 
 Discretion is the better part of valor. I do hope 
 I shan't have to make an exhibition of myself this 
 time." 
 
 It proved as the days went by that Miss Pritch- 
 ard was not obliged to remain below, and Edwina 
 for the most part stayed devotedly beside her. 
 Howard Champion had placed his chair on Eunice's 
 other hand, a proceeding which she permitted 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " You must n't expect to find me myself," she 
 announced. " I 'm just getting along. I 'm not 
 having a good time, and I don't feel like talking." 
 
 He smiled. " Just say the word and I '11 take 
 my chair to the other end of the ship." 
 
 " No," returned Eunice, faintly smiling also. 
 " I can stand it if you can." 
 
 As much as anything could compel her approval 
 on an ocean steamer, his behavior did so. Her 
 wishes were anticipated without ostentation, his 
 visits were not too frequent nor his stays too long, 
 and his cheerfulness did not abate under the calm 
 civility of Edwina's manner. 
 
 He occasionally took the latter away from her 
 cousin and her book, to walk or to play shuffle- 
 board. The first time, they went to a remote 
 corner of the deck and paused beside the rail. 
 " You 're not vexed that I did this, Edwina ? "
 
 350 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 The girl's carefully passive face suddenly glowed. 
 " Vexed that this ship is not carrying me away 
 from you that the ocean is not going to divide 
 us?" 
 
 He looked into her speaking eyes and at the 
 wind-ruffled hair under her Tarn O'Shanter, and 
 came a step nearer. 
 
 She retreated. " Do remember it is the middle 
 of the day ! " she said quickly. 
 
 " We will walk this evening ? " he asked. " I 
 have eight letters from you to answer." 
 
 Edwina made a gesture. " I would not have 
 believed I could do it. To keep writing without a 
 reply " 
 
 " I did reply. I wrote at least three to your 
 one." 
 
 " And destroyed them ! " with tragical reproach. 
 
 " Not I." He took from an inside pocket a 
 package which she received and held in both 
 hands. 
 
 They leaned against the rail facing one another, 
 and the chatting couples that sauntered past all 
 gave them looks of which the girl was conscious ; 
 but Champion was too deeply absorbed in studying 
 each feature and trick of movement which had 
 been mentally with him for five long months. 
 
 " Now what is the plan, Edwina ? " he asked in 
 a low, conversational tone. " I have obeyed you to 
 the letter, but the time is up. I want to kiss that 
 lock of hair blowing against your temple." 
 
 She tucked the lock back, where it stayed for 
 two seconds.
 
 THE AUSTRIAN HYMN 351 
 
 " Perhaps you have n't any plan," he went on. 
 " Then I have. It is to talk to Miss Pritchard 
 this afternoon." 
 
 " Oh, you would n't, surely not while she feels 
 feels so upset ! ' ' 
 
 " Well, you and I will come to a decision this 
 evening. There is too much sunshine at present 
 for me to induce you to look at things as I do. 
 You may see better in the dark." 
 
 " Howard, we must n't. I must n't. I can't 
 come out here to-night in a clandestine way, and 
 have cousin Eunice wondering where I am, and 
 asking me questions when I go back. We must 
 wait." 
 
 He nodded thoughtfully. " I suspected you 
 might say so. How long do you suppose I am to 
 submit to look at you over a wall, gagged, and 
 with my hands tied ? " 
 
 " Listen," said the girl earnestly. " I have 
 promised her I would never marry any one till she 
 asked me to." 
 
 " When did you do that ? " 
 
 " Just before before we went to the Cata- 
 combs." 
 
 " Why did you do it ? " 
 
 " Because because I wanted to." 
 
 Champion smiled. " You should have consulted 
 me." 
 
 " I was only guessing about you then, you see." 
 
 " If you had a moment's doubt, that was only 
 due me. You kept me guessing the best part of a 
 year."
 
 352 MISS PEITCIIAR&S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 " So when cousin Eunice has this feeling against 
 everything, you see what an unwise time it is to 
 ask her to be pleased with the one thing in all the 
 world she dislikes most." 
 
 " Which is " - 
 
 " Why, the thought of my of losing me. 
 Howard," looking up at him appealingly, " I know 
 it is a great deal to ask " 
 
 " I know it is, too ; and that ring of hair is 
 blowing against your temple again, and the sun 
 won't even go under a cloud." 
 
 " But you are n't going to spoil everything, I 
 hope!" 
 
 " It could n't be spoiled. I have to stalk about 
 with you like a mere acquaintance, and have to 
 receive from you the sort of civility you might give 
 to one of the steerage passengers." 
 
 Edwina bit her lip. " Mark my words, you will 
 make a great mistake. Don't you notice that 
 cousin Eunice does n't even treat you as usual ? 
 She feels that awful general repugnance." 
 
 " So do I. See here, Edwina, my beautiful dar- 
 ling " 
 
 " For pity's sake ! " exclaimed the girl, her 
 cheeks glowing, as a portly woman passed, and 
 slowly regarded them. " Do speak lower ! " 
 
 " Oh, I 'm on confidential terms with that 
 woman, anyway. You need n't mind her. She 
 was telling me this morning about her travels. 
 She said she had such a stupid cabman one whole 
 day in Rome that she nearly pulled his coat-tails
 
 353 
 
 off ; and she never could say ' Mercy ' to him, for 
 he never did anything right." 
 
 " There is n't anything or anybody stupid in 
 Rome," sighed Edwina. " I love every little square 
 of lava in the streets." 
 
 The blood slowly mounted in Champion's face 
 as he looked down on her intently. " And yet you 
 won't meet me out here this evening and tell me 
 why?" 
 
 " Howard ! " reproachfully. " /am far-sighted." 
 
 " I doubt it. I think those eyes, the prettiest 
 that were ever set in a woman's head, have astig- 
 matism. You see me with one, but the other can't 
 get past Miss Pritehard. Now, you 've had a good, 
 long try at this affair, Edwina. You let me handle 
 it a while." 
 
 The girl drew a deep breath. " Of course, I 
 can't control you, if you won't be controlled, but one 
 thing, unless you are a madman, you will wait for, 
 and that is a smooth day much smoother than 
 this. Now I must go back." 
 
 " And would rather go without me ? " 
 
 " A hundred times." 
 
 " Then shake hands." 
 
 " Nonsense ! I can't ; I 'm holding the letters." 
 
 " Going to read them to Miss Pritehard ? " 
 
 " Oh ! " ejaculated Edwina. " Supposing I 
 should drop one ! Here, take them. Keep them 
 a while. I have n't so much as a pocket." 
 
 She put them in his hand, and he made a feint 
 of tossing them overboard.
 
 354 MISS PRITCHARWS WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Howard ! " The cry was so loud that every- 
 body in that vicinity turned. 
 
 " You are making us very conspicuous, my love," 
 he remarked. 
 
 " Oh, give them to me this instant ! How could 
 I have let them go ! I will take them." 
 
 Champion gave her hand a pressure as he put 
 the package into it, and she hurried away without 
 another word.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE OPAL DAY 
 
 CHAMPION did wait for the quiet day, and it 
 came. All the passengers on that trip will recall 
 the morning when it was difficult to remember 
 that one was on a ship, when the air scarcely 
 stirred, and the wide, unrippled sea lay like a vast 
 opal under the dreaming sky. The boat's motion 
 was undiscernible, and Miss Pritchard suddenly 
 felt her every faculty restored. Ed win a as sud- 
 denly became unstrung. She knew that to-day 
 would be a fateful one for her, and when she re- 
 ceived a look from her lover as he drew his chair 
 close to Miss Pritchard's, she said that she must 
 go below and take advantage of this quiet season 
 to alter certain arrangements in the stateroom. 
 
 Scarcely had she disappeared when Champion 
 opened his subject. He was sitting forward in his 
 chair, leaning toward Eunice, who regarded him 
 with a leniency not of late observable in her con- 
 templation of her kind. " I am glad Miss Wilder 
 has gone," he said, " for I have been wishing for 
 opportunity for a confidential talk with you." 
 
 " Something more about that sweetheart you 
 are going home to?" asked his companion kindly.
 
 356 MISS PRITCHAR&S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Since you told me that you have no mother, I 
 am the more glad to do anything I can for you." 
 
 " You told me in Rome, perhaps you remember, 
 that I was welcome to ask a favor of you some- 
 time." 
 
 " I certainly did." 
 
 " But I am going to surprise you. I love your 
 child, Eclwina." 
 
 Eunice leaned back heavily in her reclining 
 chair, and her hand clasped the arm. " But your 
 your sweetheart that you told us of whose 
 health we drank in the supper room ? " 
 
 " I have no other sweetheart. I loved her from 
 the first. I loved her on the ship. I want your 
 good wishes, and sanction, and influence." 
 
 " But Mr. Champion," Eunice swallowed with 
 difficulty. " I should think you could see, you 
 must often have seen, that you were not not a 
 favorite with Edwina." 
 
 " I fought that conviction for some time, but 
 your word, your opinion, your wish would be 
 everything to her." 
 
 His frank eyes were studying Eunice's excited, 
 flushing face earnestly. " I want to be as good a 
 son to you as I am husband to Edwina. I want 
 to do a hundred things for you that I never had a 
 chance to do for my mother. I have done some- 
 thing ; forgive me for mentioning it, but all 's 
 fair now. You have seemed to like me." 
 
 " Yes, Mr. Champion," returned Miss Pritchard 
 gravely, " I do like you ; but I must have time for
 
 THE OPAL DAY 357 
 
 this. You are asking of me my all, my all. Before 
 we say anything further I must talk with Edwina." 
 
 " In my favor ? " The young man took his com- 
 panion's hand to assist her, for she was rising from 
 her chair, and he retained it a little. " You think 
 me over-sanguine, perhaps, but it is only because 
 I am counting on your help. This is a matter of 
 life and death to me, Miss Pritchard." 
 
 Eunice raised her gentle eyes to his with a look 
 that made him feel for the moment convicted of 
 aggressive selfishness. " It is the same to me, Mr. 
 Champion." 
 
 Walking away, the little woman took a few 
 turns up and down the end of the deck, her eyes 
 on the opal tints of the water, her cheeks flushed. 
 Then she sought the stairway and descended to 
 the stateroom, where Edwina was putting a closet 
 in order. The girl looked up with a start at her 
 entrance. 
 
 "Are you about through here, Ned?" she 
 asked. " It is a pity to spend any of this day in- 
 doors. Beside, I wish to talk with you. Can we 
 find a quiet place ? " 
 
 " I think so," replied Edwina, nonplused at her 
 cousin's collected manner, and endeavoring to imi- 
 tate it. Had Howard not carried out his purpose ? 
 
 They left the cabin, passed the groups of play- 
 ers at shuffle-board on the lower deck, and found a 
 secluded corner of which they took possession. 
 
 " I have been thinking about you a great deal 
 to-day, Xed. I have a great deal to say to you."
 
 358 MISS PKITCHABD'S WEDDING TEIP 
 
 Miss Pritchard looked off for a brief space, and 
 Edwina observed the trembling of her lips. In a 
 minute she went on : "I wish I could secure my 
 own self-control for the next half hour. I don't 
 want to be interrupted or bothered by tears or any 
 nonsense of that kind." 
 
 Edwina regarded her, more and more aston- 
 ished. For wailing and bemoaning she had been 
 prepared, but not for this. 
 
 " In a few days we shall reach home, Ned, and 
 I don't wish to stand in the way of its being a per- 
 fectly happy home-coming to you. Mr. Champion 
 has been telling me that he cares for you." 
 
 The girl, sitting at her cousin's feet, stole her 
 hand into Eunice's and kept her questioning eyes 
 upon her. 
 
 " You have shown me innumerable times that he 
 was not agreeable to you. You have shown me as 
 often that Mr. Glenn was so. On Easter in the 
 Borghese Gardens you impressed me as dejected 
 because I was opposed to Mr. Glenn. You have 
 volunteered to marry no one unless I ask you to 
 do so. I want you to touch the dock in New York 
 a happier girl than the one who left it. You have 
 shown great eagerness to go home. Very well ; 
 I know sufficient about Mr. Glenn to make me 
 willing to ask you to marry him, if you wish it." 
 
 A spasm of surprise passed over the young face. 
 " Oh no, cousin Eunice ! No 1 " 
 
 " You speak with a great deal of repugnance. 
 What does it mean ? "
 
 THE OPAL DAY 359 
 
 " What do you mean, cousin Eunice ? " was the 
 uneasy response. " You don't talk like yourself. 
 You don't act like yourself. Did did Mr. Cham- 
 pion offend you ? " she added timidly. 
 
 Something in her guardian's attitude and ex- 
 pression as she sat above her looking down with 
 strange resolve in her eyes, perplexed and troubled 
 Edwina's soul. 
 
 Eunice's look, returning the gaze of the loved 
 face, softened. " My little Ned," she said in a 
 changed tone, " I am going to surprise you very 
 much. That's right, hold my hand, and let us 
 never for a moment think apart." Eunice made a 
 scarcely perceptible pause, then went on slowly. 
 " I have known, dear, ever since that night in the 
 Colosseum." 
 
 Edwina started back, gazed, then bowed her 
 head on the other's knee. 
 
 " I turned at the moment you were in Mr. 
 Champion's arms. I saw him kiss you," she con- 
 tinued, stroking the uncovered head. " I myself 
 was the martyr, the cruelly used martyr for whom 
 in my distraction I was crying. I said anything, 
 anything that came into my head. If you were 
 secretive, then I must be so too, until I had had 
 time to think. You were not a girl with whom a 
 man could take an idle liberty. Moreover, you 
 were evidently not offended. Then you had been 
 deceiving me. I had told you I could not bear a 
 surprise, but you had not confided in me." 
 
 Impulsively Edwina raised her head to speak.
 
 360 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Wait, Ned. Hear me first ; then I will hear 
 
 you." 
 
 The girl again bowed her face under the loving 
 hand. 
 
 " Through the wretched hours of that eternal 
 night I fought a terrible fight. Was ever martyr 
 more cruelly torn by beasts than I by the mer- 
 ciless claws of suspicion and grief ? Light was 
 thrown upon a dozen situations where I had been 
 a butt and laughing-stock for you and your lover 
 you, whose frankness and loyalty I would have 
 staked my life upon. Wait, Ned, wait." 
 
 Miss Pritchard's soothing hand began again to 
 smooth the girl's hair. 
 
 " All Mr. Champion's kindness and favors grew 
 suddenly hateful. They had all been calculated, 
 and meant only grasping for my little girl and win- 
 ning her into deceit. I could not stay in bed. I 
 walked up and down in agony of mind, until tor- 
 ture reached a point where numbness set in. Then 
 other thoughts began whispering themselves to me. 
 Your whole life rose up, a record of truth and de- 
 votion, and plead for you. Must you be condemned 
 so quickly ? Perhaps there was some explanation 
 of your silence beyond a mere desire not to c-Jill 
 down my disapproval of your love-affair. 1 deter- 
 mined to wait, to see what you would do; to 
 watch your plan if you had one. Meanwhile I 
 tried not to feel such hatred of Mr. Champion as 
 at first welled up in my heart. How could he 
 help loving you ? I determined to try to be fair
 
 THE OPAL DAY 361 
 
 to him, and if your action was being prompted by 
 love for me, it might be proved. By the time 
 dawn brought its natural help for nightmares, I 
 had made up my mind to control myself and keep 
 silence. It was clear that I could not talk with 
 you while the wound was so fresh, without misery 
 to us both, for enmity toward Mr. Champion kept 
 springing up in me. ' Love your enemies,' I said 
 to myself many times an hour in those days after 
 Easter when we rushed about so from place to 
 place. I said it while the angel-voices were sing- 
 ing in the Pantheon, I said it to the Arch of Con- 
 stantine at the Forum, and at the house of Livia 
 on the Palatine. When we went out to Tivoli 
 and saw that immense waterfall sending clouds of 
 smoke over the valley, I looked into the lovely 
 rainbow that spanned it, and thought only of Mr. 
 Champion. ' He could n't help it,' I said to my- 
 self again. ' Love your enemies.' I repeated it 
 to the giant cypress in the gardens of the Villa 
 d'Este, and again at Hadrian's Villa. All those 
 spots seem to me now like places seen in a dream. 
 By Thursday morning, when Mr. Champion came 
 to ask us to go over the Vatican, I had myself in 
 hand. The more I looked at you in this new light, 
 the less the wound ached that you had given me. 
 Whatever was influencing you, I began to be cer- 
 tain that it could mean no lack of love for me ; 
 and there was something new in your tenderness." 
 " Oh cousin Eunice ! How good, how gener- 
 ous ! " murmured Edwina.
 
 362 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 " Then we went away ; and you thought I 
 didn't see that you were grateful to Mr. Cham- 
 pion for not betraying the situation. Ah Ned, it 
 wrenched my heart that you felt the parting so ; 
 but, my little girl, not a jot of your sweetness and 
 patience and unselfishness in the months that 
 came afterward has been lost on me. I saw you 
 had even cut yourself off from receiving letters 
 from your lover ; though perhaps you wrote to 
 him. Often I was tempted to talk to you; but 
 always my own shrinking from it was too strong. 
 You were n't unhappy, and that new strength and 
 womanliness in your face were growing out of 
 your love. You had some plan. I did n't doubt 
 you had set some limit in your mind. Perhaps 
 you knew that Mr. Champion was going home 
 with us " 
 
 " I did n't. I did n't know it." 
 
 " At any rate," went on Miss Pritchard with a 
 sad smile, " I suspected that you wished my wed- 
 ding trip to be finished before there was any talk 
 of yours. Now, Ned darling, I 've taken a long 
 time for my fight, a long time to do my thinking. 
 I didn't know before how selfish I was in my 
 clinging to you ; but your unselfishness has taught 
 me a lesson." The speaker's eyes, looking wist- 
 fully across to the opal sea, caught sight of Cham- 
 pion, who had discovered them and was lingering 
 near watching the sunshine on Edwina's hair and 
 wondering what her attitude betokened. 
 
 Eunice caught his eye. How many pleasant
 
 THE OPAL DAY 363 
 
 associations she had with the tall, straight-limbed 
 figure, the broad shoulders, and the frank, strong 
 countenance. That smile which she had often 
 praised now disclosed his gleaming teeth as he 
 met her gaze. How, once, Ned Wilder's smile 
 had warmed her heart ! Had she forgotten those 
 cravings of hers, that she should begrudge their 
 satisfaction to his daughter? A motion of her 
 hand sufficed to make Champion advance with 
 alacrity. Edwina lifted her eyes, wet with unshed 
 tears. 
 
 " She saw us, Howard," she said to him brokenly. 
 " She saw us in the Colosseum. She has known 
 all the time. I 've done everything she told me 
 not to. I 've surprised her, and deceived her, and 
 yet she forgives me and never says a reproachful 
 word. All these months ! Was ever any one so 
 good, so generous ! " 
 
 Miss Pritchard's improvised seat was not a very 
 wide one, but Champion immediately made it broad 
 enough for two, putting his arm around Eunice to 
 hold her beside him. She colored, but did not 
 look offended. 
 
 " I wished to tell you from the start," he said, 
 " but Edwina was sure she knew best. I wanted 
 to talk it right out with you, and ask your permis- 
 sion in good form." 
 
 " But you see, Ned knew I might refuse it in 
 every sort of form, good and bad, if you were too 
 sudden." 
 
 " How lovely you are to understand, cousin
 
 364 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 Eunice ! " Edwina still kept her head in her cous- 
 in's lap, as if she dreaded to take a loftier position. 
 
 " Have you asked her yet to marry me ? " said 
 Champion. 
 
 " No. Will you marry him, Ned ? " asked Miss 
 Pritchard gently. 
 
 " Not unless you 'd like it better than anything," 
 came the muffled reply. 
 
 " She would," said Champion, giving the slight 
 little figure in his arm a closer pressure. " She 
 can't get along without me." 
 
 " We can't get along without her," the voice 
 still more muffled. " Tell her so, Howard." 
 
 " Most certainly," he responded. " What sort 
 of a household could we expect to run without 
 cousin Eunice's better judgment to fall back 
 upon ? " 
 
 " No, children. I have n't thought so much 
 about this without considering that question. Mi- 
 randa and I may live near, but it would be against 
 my better " 
 
 " Then I won't, I can't, I never will " burst 
 forth Edwina. " You don't really want me to 
 marry." 
 
 " My dear Ned, why then do you suppose I 
 bought all that linen in Berlin ? " 
 
 At this Edwina's head flew up, much ruffled as 
 to hair and flushed and tear-stained as to face, but 
 in Mr. Champion's critical and impartial judgment, 
 prettier than ever. 
 
 She stared at her cousin and her lover long
 
 365 
 
 enough to grow pink to the tips of her ears, and 
 then dove back into Miss Pritchard's tailor-made 
 lap. 
 
 " You see, I can be double-faced too when I 
 try," said Eunice triumphantly. " Mr. Champion, 
 
 you"- 
 
 " Miss Pritchard," interrupted the young man 
 gravely, " if you don't know it, I will inform you 
 that it is highly improper to let a fellow embrace 
 you as I am doing now, unless you know him well 
 enough to call him by his first name." 
 
 " Oh, are you embracing her, Howard ? " asked 
 Edwina plaintively, eagerly lifting her face, open- 
 lipped, to gaze at this phenomenon, and so encour- 
 aged by it that thereafter she sat up, the two she 
 loved best looking down at her. " Cousin Eunice, 
 you always did like Howard from the first, didn't 
 you ? " appealingly. " And you know he is n't a 
 monster, don't you ? " 
 
 " You 'd better live with us the first year, any- 
 way, to watch me," said Champion. " You want 
 to be certain that I don't drag Edwina around by 
 the hair." 
 
 Miss Pritchard smiled. " We '11 leave it that 
 if you do, I will live with you the second year." 
 She took one of Edwina's hands and placed it in 
 Champion's, then kept the other herself. 
 
 The ship slipped quietly through the opal water. 
 Tints of rose and pale blue shone in the sky above 
 and the sea below. The three looked at each other 
 in hushed content. Eunice, as she met her child's
 
 366 MISS PRITCHARD'S WEDDING TRIP 
 
 eyes, thought of her youth, of the man whose mem- 
 ory she still loved, and it came to her that this 
 joy of Edwina's was something he would have 
 been glad of, perhaps was glad of now. 
 
 " Children," she said, with soft earnestness, " I 
 want you to know that I am happy in this for my- 
 self as well as for you. I was more selfish than I 
 knew with my one chick. I hope we shall all three 
 grow broader and better, and do an ever-increasing 
 good in the world." She lifted her delicate face 
 to Champion and kissed him, a salute which he 
 met and returned with fervor ; then she leaned to 
 Edwina, whose eyes were radiant, and pressed lov- 
 ing lips to hers. 
 
 " Thank God for this ending to my wedding 
 trip ! " she said.
 
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