may say more broadly," observed L'Isle, "that God makes nature and
man defiles it."

"I am truly glad," said Mrs. Shortridge, "that these filthy people
have not been able to defile their whole land."

Gradually the sunbeams grew hotter, the mountain breeze became a
sultry breath, the ground steeper and more rugged, and their
accumulating floral treasures more and more cumbrous. Lady Mabel
seemed to take delight in adding every moment to the load L'Isle
carried. "You must know," she said, "that the pupil is always the
packhorse on these occasions," and she insisted on Mrs. Shortridge
bearing her share of the burden. This lady at first had talked
incessantly, but had gradually less and less to say, and at length was
reduced to silence from sheer want of breath. She had frequently to
rest for a few minutes, and was coming fast to the conviction that
rural excursions on a hot day, and flower-hunting over rough ground,
were less pleasant than she thought at first. The hills, bare of
trees, exposed them to the full power of the sun, yet were covered
with a growth of tall heaths, mingled with patches of the _cistus
ladaniferus_, which covers so much of the surface of the slaty hills
of this region. The close growth and gummy exudations of this plant
often made the thickets impenetrable, and forced the party to many a
long circuit, in their efforts to reach the ridge of the high
grounds. Mrs. Shortridge at length sat, or rather sunk, down upon a
fragment of rock, and L'Isle came promptly to her aid.

"Colonel L'Isle," said she, panting, "I could not take another step up
hill for all the flowers in Portugal."

"I am only astonished at your getting so far up. You are not used to
climbing mountains."

"When Lady Mabel is at home in Scotland," said Mrs. Shortridge, "I
suppose she walks up a mountain every morning, to get an appetite for
breakfast. So it is in vain to attempt to follow her. But here she
comes."

Lady Mabel now joined them; and L'Isle, pointing out a belt of low
woods that wound along the hollow ground at no great distance below
them, offered Mrs. Shortridge his arm, and induced her to make an
effort to reach its shelter.

On drawing nearer to it, they found themselves in a rough path, made
by the flocks of the neighborhood, which led them at first through
thickets of evergreen shrubs, and then abruptly down the rocky and
almost precipitous bank of that stream, which a mile or two below
reached and supplie