scape a visit. For a
time Uncle John had borne up bravely, but the day of rebellion was soon
coming.

"No cathedrals in Venice, I hope?" he had said on their arrival.

"Oh, yes, dear; the loveliest one in the world! St. Mark's is here, you
know."

"But no St. Paul's or St. Peter's?"

"No, Uncle. There's the Saluta, and the--"

"Never mind. We'll do that first one, and then quit. What they build so
many churches for I can't imagine. Nobody goes to 'em but tourists, that
I can see."

He developed a streak of extravagance in Venice, and purchased Venetian
lace and Venetian glassware to such an extent that the nieces had to
assure him they were all supplied with enough to last them and their
friends for all time to come. Major Doyle had asked for a meerschaum
pipe and a Florentine leather pocket book; so Uncle John made a
collection of thirty-seven pipes of all shapes and sizes, and bought so
many pocketbooks that Patsy declared her father could use a different
one every day in the month.

"But they're handy things to have," said her uncle, "and we may not get
to Europe again in a hurry."

This was his excuse for purchasing many things, and it was only by
reminding him of the duty he would have to pay in New York that the
girls could induce him to desist.

This customs tax worried the old gentleman at times. Before this trip he
had always believed in a protective tariff, but now he referred to the
United States customs as a species of brigandage worse than that of Il
Duca himself.

They stopped at Milan to visit the great cathedral, and then raced
through Switzerland and made a dash from Luzerne to Paris.

"Thank heaven," said Uncle John, "there are no cathedrals in gay Paree,
at any rate."

"Oh, yes there are," they assured him. "We must see Notre Dame, anyway;
and there are a dozen other famous cathedrals."

Here is where Uncle John balked.

"See here, my dears," he announced, "Not a cathedral will I visit from
this time on! You can take a guide and go by yourselves if you feel you
can't let any get away from you. Go and find another of Mike Angelo's
last work; every church has got one. For my part, I've always been
religiously inclined, but I've been to church enough lately to last me
the rest of my natural life, and I've fully determined not to darken the
doors of another cathedral again. They're like circuses, anyhow; when
you've seen one, you've seen 'em all."

No argument would induce him to aban