d the bad news, and the faithful
muleteer had of his own accord volunteered to play the part which the
Boy and I had assigned him. Though he was tired, cold, and hungry, and
had the prospect of a gloomy walk, with a night of discomfort to
follow, he was far from being depressed; and I thought I knew what
supported him in his hour of trial.

We saw him off, followed by a piteous trail of asshood, and then,
shivering once more, we re-entered the dim corridor. Innocentina, much
subdued, was with us now, carrying the famous bag in its snow-powdered
_ruecksack_, while a porter went before with the rest of the luggage,
taken from the tired backs of our beasts. We had reached the foot of
the stairs, when we came so suddenly face to face with the two
Americans that it almost seemed we had stumbled upon an ambush.

They stared very hard at the Boy, who did not give them a glance,
though I was conscious of a stiffening of his muscles. He turned his
head a little on one side, so that the shadow of the panama eclipsed
his face from their point of view; but I could see that he had first
grown scarlet, then white.

"By Jove, but it can't be possible!" I heard one of the men say as we
passed and began to ascend the stairs. The answer I did not hear; but
Innocentina, who was close behind me, glared with unchristian
malevolence at the young men, as if instinct whispered that they were
concerning themselves unnecessarily about her master's business.

The Boy ran upstairs as lightly as if he had never known fatigue. The
porter showed him his room; his luggage was taken in, and then he came
out to me in the passage.

"You told Joseph that he needn't come up very early to-morrow, didn't
you?" he enquired.

"Yes, as we're pretty well fagged, and Chambery isn't an all-day's
journey, I thought we might take our time in the morning. That suits
you, doesn't it?" (It was really of him that I had been thinking, but
I did not say so.)

"Oh, yes," he answered absentmindedly, as if already his brain were
busy with something else. "What time did you fix for starting? I didn't
hear?"

"I said to Joseph that it would do if he were on hand at half-past
ten. You can rest till nine o'clock."

"Thank you. And now, good night. You've been very kind to-day. Maybe I
didn't seem grateful, but I was, all the same; very, very grateful."

"Nonsense!" said I. "If you're too tired to go down, shan't I have my
dinner with you? We could have a table drawn