wait for him; they went on
the most charming of excursions, by sea and land, wishing for him; in
which wish Dolly heartily shared. It had been one of the pleasures she
had promised herself in coming to the Thayers' that she should see Mr.
Shubrick again. He had interested her singularly, and even taken not a
little hold of her fancy. So she was honestly disappointed when at last
a note came from him, saying that he found it impossible to join the
party.

"That means just that he has something on hand that he calls
'duty'--which anybody else would put off or hand over," said Christina,
pouting.

"Duty is a very good reason," said Dolly. "Don't you see, you are sure
of Mr. Shubrick, that in any case he will not do what he thinks wrong?
I think you ought to be a very happy woman, Christina."

But the excursions were made without Mr. Shubrick's social or material
help. They went to Capri; they visited the grottoes; nay, they made a
party to go up Vesuvius. All that was to be seen, they saw; and, as
Christina declared, they left nothing undone that they could do. Then
came the breaking up.

"Are you expecting to go back to that stuffy little place at Sorrento?"
Mr. Copley asked. It was the evening before their departure, and all
the party were sitting, scattered about upon the verandah.

"Father!" cried Dolly. "It is the airiest, floweriest, sunniest,
brightest, most delightful altogether house, that ever took lodgers in!"

"It certainly wasn't stuffy, Mr. Copley," said his wife.

"Dolly likes it because you couldn't get a glass of good wine in the
house. Whatever the rest of humanity like, she makes war upon. I
conclude you are reckoning upon going back there, my wife and daughter?"

"Are not you, Mr. Copley?" his wife asked.

"I must be excused."

"Then where are you going?"

"Home."

"Home!" exclaimed Mrs. Copley. "Do you mean _home?_ Boston?"

"A Boston woman thinks Boston is the centre of the universe, you may
notice," said Mr. Copley, turning to Mr. Thayer. "It's a curious
peculiarity. No matter what other cities on the face of the earth you
show her, her soul turns back to Boston."

"Don't say anything against Boston," said Mrs. Thayer; "it's a good
little place. I know, when Mr. Thayer first carried me there, it took
me a while to get accustomed to it;--things on a different scale, you
know, and looked at from a different point of view; but I soon found
admirers, and then friends. Oh, I assure you,