g at the _table d'hote_ of a
hotel in Lucerne; but in reality she spent that evening in Brighton.

And she was still thinking of Brighton when, as has been related, there
was a migration from the dining-saloon to the verandah outside; so that
she did not hear much of what her sisters were saying.

'We are certainly going to have a real thunderstorm after the imitation
one,' Miss Beresford repeated. 'Do you hear that?'

There was a low rumble of thunder; likewise some pattering of rain-drops
on the leaves outside.

'It won't be half as fine though,' said the musical sister.

There was a sudden white flash of light that revealed in a surprising
manner the sharp outline of Pilatus; then darkness and a crashing peal of
thunder. The rain began to pour; and some passers by took shelter under
the densely-foliaged trees fronting the gravelled terrace of the hotel.
The light that came through the tall windows fell on those dark figures;
but dimly.

Nan had been thinking so much of Brighton, and Sal, and the downs, and
ships and sailors, that when this orange glow fell on a gentleman whom
she thought she recognised as Lieutenant Frank King she was scarcely
astonished. She looked hard through the dusk; yes, surely it was he.

'Mary,' she said, but without any great interest, 'isn't that Lieutenant
King standing by that farthest tree?'

The eldest sister also peered through the obscurity.

'Well, yes, it is. What an extraordinary thing! Oh, I remember, he said
he was going abroad. But what a curious coincidence! Why don't you go
and speak to him, Nan?'

'Why should I go and speak to him?' said Nan. 'I should only get wet.'

'What can have brought him here?' said Edith.

'Not his ship, at all events,' said Mary Beresford, smartly. 'It's only
Shakspeare who can create seaports inland.'

'You ought to know better than that,' said Nan with some asperity, for
she was very valiant in protecting her intellectual heroes against the
attacks of a flippant criticism. 'You ought to know that at one time the
Kingdom of Bohemia had seaports on the Adriatic; every school-girl knows
that nowadays.'

'They didn't when I was at school,' said Mary Beresford. 'But aren't you
going to speak to Lieutenant King, Nan?'

'Oh, he won't want to be bothered with a lot of girls,' said Nan; and she
refused to stir.

A few seconds thereafter, though there was still an occasional flash of
lightning, the rain slackened somewhat; and t