to him,--and he
wondered whether it could possibly be Kenwick who had put the child in
a sentimental mood.

"But a happier fate to serve a good cause and live," Kenwick maintained;
adding, lightly: "Miss May tells me I have taught her something, and I
desire to live long to remember it."

"You probably will," the Colonel rejoined, curtly.

"You were wishing the other day for a short life and a merry one,"
Pauline observed, as the Colonel turned to speak to Vittorio.

"Perhaps things have changed since then," Kenwick replied, in a low
voice, with so much seriousness and significance that May gave him a
quick, amused look, while Pauline experienced an unreasonable
resentment. What business had a stranger like Kenwick to be talking to
them in riddles?

And yet, the next day, when the whole party took the trip by steamer,
the long length of the lagoon to Chioggia, Pauline was shocked to find
herself almost resigned to the pretensions of the stranger as exhibited
toward May.

The morning was a glorious one, cooler and clearer than the usual
Venice June. Across the lagoon to the west, the Euganean hills stood
out, sharp-cut in their pointed outlines as if carved in stone,--as
indeed they doubtless are,--while to the northward, looking back across
the domes and spires of the receding city, could be seen the distant
snow-capped range of the Tyrolese Alps, so gracious in its undulating
curves, as to make an impression almost of warmth and tenderness.

[Illustration: "May watched the water-logged craft as
it vanished under a distant bridge"]

From the start, Kenwick had succeeded in engaging May's attention, having
resort to the same means which had already proved efficacious. At his
suggestion they had each brought a sketchbook, and, during the trip of
several hours, they jotted down desultory notes of the passing scene.
Here, a boat laden with market produce, its gay, striped sail bulging to
the breeze; there, the towers of Malamocco and Poveglia, with the pretty
vista of the channel between. Again, a rude shrine erected on piles, or a
group of boys diving off a tumble-down wharf in the distance. It was very
delightful, this monopoly of the young girl's attention. The eager interest
with which she listened to his suggestions, the quick intelligence with
which she acted upon them.

And Pauline, sitting with Geof a little apart from the others, tried in
vain to take herself to task for leaving Kenwick so entirely to h