y now and then, after working in silence for some twenty minutes or
so, McGuilp breaks the monotony by some pleasing remark or question, to
which the maiden replies charmingly. Sometimes she in her turn will ask
him questions about Italy, and whether the country and the people are
the same as in England.

"No, Helen," McGuilp replies; "not the same. Italy is warmer, the sky
bluer, and grapes grow in the open air along the road side. The people's
faces are darker and their language more musical than ours. They are all
Roman Catholics; but, alas, the government is bad, and the country is
infested with brigands, who attack travellers in the mountains and
sometimes keep them as hostages till their friends can be sent for to
pay any ransom they may choose to ask, in default of which their victims
are tortured and maimed in the most inhuman manner."

"Oh, what horrid wretches! I was just going to say, before you told me
that, what a paradise Italy must be to live in! But I don't think I
should like to live there now."

"Well, these are drawbacks, I admit," said McGuilp, "but, nevertheless,
Italy is a very charming country. Fancy a land where every peasant makes
his own wine--good wine, and cheap, too. What merrymakings they have,
too, on their feast days, and how picturesque their costume!"

"Ah! do tell me how they are dressed. I should so like to know."

"Would you, Helen?" said McGuilp. "Then, as the sitting is now at an
end, being past twelve o'clock, I will let you look over my portfolio.
You will find some studies that I have made both of men and women in the
costumes of the Roman peasantry."

"Oh, do show them to me," exclaimed Helen, in delight. "I am so curious
to see what they are like. Did you say it was past twelve o'clock? I
began my sitting at nine, and it does not seem to me more than
half-an-hour that I have been here."

And I have no doubt she spoke the truth. Happy moments are short. Alas!
how rapidly time glides away in youth, and how provokingly long it
appears when we have most reason to wish it should pass quickly. As
Helen was engaged in admiring the studies and sketches of McGuilp our
host knocked at the door to ask if his daughter could be spared, as her
mother wanted her aid in the affairs of the house.

"Oh, certainly," said McGuilp; "but I must have another good sitting
to-morrow."

"Very well, sir. May I be permitted to look at the portrait?" asked the
landlord.

"You may look," replie