re, with no difference at all. There was the calm
of manner that had struck her then, along with the readiness for
action; the combination was peculiar, and expressed in every turn of
head and hand. Here, in a strange house, he was as absolutely at ease
and unconstrained as if he had been on the quarterdeck of his own ship.
Is it the habit of command? thought Dolly. But that does not
necessarily give a man ease of manner in his intercourse with others
who are not under his command. Meanwhile, Mr. Shubrick sat and talked,
keeping up a gentle run of unexciting thoughts, and apparently as much
at home in the kitchen of Brierley Cottage as if he had lived there
always.

"When have you seen Christina?" Dolly asked.

"Not in some months."

"Are they at Sorrento yet?"

"No; they spent the winter in Rome, and this summer they are in
Switzerland. I had a letter from Miss Thayer the other day. I mean, a
few weeks ago."

It occurred to Dolly that one or the other of them must be a slack
correspondent.

"I almost wonder they could leave Sorrento," she remarked.

"They got tired of it."

"I never get tired of lovely things," said Dolly. "The longer I know
them the better pleasure I take in them. I could have stayed in Venice,
it seemed to me, for years; and Rome--I should never have got away from
Rome of my own accord, if duty had not made me; and then at Naples, I
enjoyed it better the last day than the first. And Sorrento"----

"What about Sorrento?"

"Oh, it was--you know what Sorrento is. It was roses and myrtles and
orange blossoms, and the fire of the pomegranate flowers and the grey
of the olives; and the Italian sun, and the Italian air; and, Mr.
Shubrick, you know what the Mediterranean is, with all its colours
under the shadow of the cliffs and the sunlight on the open sea. And
Vesuvius was always a delightful wonder to me. And the people were so
nice. Sorrento is perfect." A soft breath of a sigh came from Dolly's
heart.

"You do not like England so well?"

"No. Oh no! But I could like England. Mr. Shubrick, my time at Sorrento
was almost without care; and you know that makes a difference."

"Would you like to live without care?" said he.

Dolly looked at him, the question seemed so strange. "Without anxious
care--I should," she answered.

"That you may, anywhere."

"How is it possible, sometimes?" Dolly asked wistfully.

"May I be Yankee enough to answer your question by another? Is it any
relief