olerably independent. She was very good-natured, and had
graduated in the art of making herself acceptable, and, as she really
wished to go abroad again, she easily induced Mrs. Morton and Ida to
think it a great boon that she should join forces with them, and as she
was an experienced traveller with a convenient smattering of various
tongues, she really smoothed their way considerably and lived much more
at her ease than she could have done upon her own resources, always
frequenting English hotels and boarding-houses.

Mrs. Morton and Ida were of that order of tourists who do not so much
care for sights as for being on a level with those who have seen them;
and besides, Ida was scarcely well or in spirits enough for much exertion
till after her first month at Nice, which restored her altogether to her
usual self, and made her impatient of staying in one place.

It is not, however, worth while to record the wanderings of the trio,
until in the next summer they reached Venice, where Ida declared her
intention of penetrating into the Dolomites. There was an outcry. What
could she wish for in that wild and savage country, where there was no
comfortable hotel, no society, no roads--nothing in short to make life
tolerable, whereas an hotel full of Americans of extreme politeness to
ladies, and expeditions in gondolas, when one could talk and have plenty
of attention, were only too delightful?

That peaks should be more attractive than flirtations was inexplicable,
but at last in secret confabulation Ida disclosed her motive, and in
another private consultation Mrs. Morton begged Miss Gattoni to agree to
it, as the only means of satisfying the young lady, or putting her mind
at rest about a fancy her mother could not believe in; though even as she
said, 'it would be so very shocking, it is perfectly ridiculous to think
my brother Lord Northmoor would be capable,' the shrewd confidante
detected a lingering wish that it might be so!

Maps and routes were consulted, and it was decided that whereas to go
from Venice through Cadore would involve much mule-riding and rough
roads, the best way would be to resort to the railway to Verona, and
thence to Botzen as the nearest point whence Ratzes could be reached.

CHAPTER XXVI
IDA'S WARNING

Botzen proved to be very hot and full of smells, nor did Mrs. Morton care
for its quaint old medieval houses, but Ida's heart had begun to fail her
when she came so near the crisis