westward ran the men of Mentone, and down the hill came those of
Roccabruna, and together they flew out on Capo San Martino to this
convent--only to find no Sarrasins at all, but only the nuns in a row
upon their knees entreating pardon: they had rung the bell as a test.
Not long afterwards the bell rang again, but no one went. This time it
really was the Sarrasins, and the nuns were all carried off."

"Very dramatic. The slight discrepancy that this happened to be a
monastery for monks makes no difference: who cares for details!" said
Verney, who, under the pretence of sketching the ruins, was making his
eighth portrait of Janet. He said of these little pencil portraits that
he "threw them in." Janet was therefore thrown into the Red Rocks, the
"old town," the Bone Caverns, the Pont St. Louis, Dr. Bennet's garden,
the cemetery, Capo San Martino, and before we finished into Roccabruna,
Castellare, Monaco, Dolce Acqua, Sant' Agnese, and the old Roman Trophy
at Turbia.

Leaving the ruins, we went down to the point, where the cape juts out
sharply into the sea, forming the western boundary of the Mentone bay.
Opposite, on the eastern point, lay blanche Bordighera, fair and silvery
as ever in the sunshine. We found the Professor on the point examining
the rocks.

"This is a formation similar to that which we may see in process of
construction at the present moment off the coast of Florida," he
explained.

"Not _coquina_?" cried Miss Graves, instantly going down and selecting a
large fragment.

"It is conglomerate," replied the Professor, disappearing around the
cliff corner, walking on little knobs of rock, and almost into the
Mediterranean in his eagerness.

"That word conglomerate is one of the most useful terms I know," said
Inness. "It covers everything: like Renaissance."

"The rock is also called pudding-stone," said Verney.

"Away with pudding-stone! we will have none of it. We are nothing if not
dignified, are we, Miss Elaine?" said Inness, turning to that young
lady, who was bestowing upon him the boon of her society for the happy
afternoon.

"I am sure I have always thought you had a _great_ deal of dignity, Mr.
Inness," replied Miss Elaine, with her sweetest smile.

We sat down on the rocks and looked at the blue sea. "It is commonplace
to be continually calling it blue," I said; "but it is inevitable, for
no one can look at it without thinking of its color."

"It has seen so much," said Mrs. Clary