n, whom their
mysterious insight chooses from the crowd. Teresa, with the hard feeling
towards animals which is one of the serious defects of the Italian
character, cried, "Ah, the mangy beast!" and lifted her umbrella. The
dog starred back, waited a moment, and followed them again as they went
on.

Carmina's gentle heart gave its pity to this lost and hungry
fellow-creature. "I must buy that poor dog something to eat," she
said--and stopped suddenly as the idea struck her.

The dog, accustomed to kicks and curses, was ignorant of kindness.
Following close behind her, when she checked herself, he darted away in
terror into the road. A cab was driven by rapidly at the same moment.
The wheel passed over the dog's neck. And there was an end, as a man
remarked looking on, of the troubles of a cur.

This common accident struck the girl's sensitive nature with horror.
Helpless and speechless, she trembled piteously. The nearest open door
was the door of a music-seller's shop. Teresa led her in, and asked for
a chair and a glass of water. The proprietor, feeling the interest in
Carmina which she seldom failed to inspire among strangers, went the
length of offering her a glass of wine. Preferring water, she soon
recovered herself sufficiently to be able to leave her chair.

"May I change my mind about going to the museum?" she said to her
companion. "After what has happened, I hardly feel equal to looking at
curiosities."

Teresa's ready sympathy tried to find some acceptable alternative.
"Music would be better, wouldn't it?" she suggested.

The so-called Italian Opera was open that night, and the printed
announcement of the performance was in the shop. They both looked at
it. Fortune was still against them. A German opera appeared on the bill.
Carmina turned to the music-seller in despair. "Is there no music,
sir, but German music to be heard in London?" she asked. The hospitable
shopkeeper produced a concert programmed for that afternoon--the modest
enterprise of an obscure piano-forte teacher, who could only venture to
address pupils, patrons, and friends. What did he promise? Among other
things, music from "Lucia," music from "Norma," music from "Ernani."
Teresa made another approving mark with her thumb-nail; and Carmina
purchased tickets.

The music-seller hurried to the door to stop the first empty cab that
might pass. Carmina showed a deplorable ignorance of the law of chances.
She shrank from the bare idea of