wn
head, with the result that she nearly drowned both herself and the child.

They finally stopped for luncheon in a grove of chestnut trees with sheep
nibbling on the hill-side below them and a shepherd boy somewhere out of
sight playing on a mouth organ. It should have been a flute, but they
were in a forgiving mood. Constance this time did her share of the work.
She and Tony together spread the cloth and made the coffee while her
father fanned himself and looked on. If Mr. Wilder had any unusual
thoughts in regard to the donkey-man, they were at least not reflected in
his face.

When they had finished their meal Tony spread his coat under a tree.

'Signorina,' he said, 'perhaps you li'l' tired? Look, I make nice place
to sleep. You lie down and rest while ze Signor Papa and me, we have
li'l' smoke. Zen after one, two hours I come call you.'

Constance very willingly accepted the suggestion. They had walked five
uphill miles since morning. It was two hours later that she opened her
eyes to find Tony bending over her. She sat up and regarded him sternly.
He had the grace to blush.

'Tony, did you kiss my hand?'

'_Scusi_, signorina. I ver' sorry to wake you, but it is tree o'clock and
ze Signor Papa he say we must start just now or we nevair get to ze
top.'

'Answer my question.'

'Signorina, I cannot tell to you a lie. It is true, I forget I am just
poor donkey-man. I play li'l' game. You sleeping beauty; I am ze prince.
I come to wake you. Just _one_ kiss I drop on your hand--one ver' little
kiss, signorina.'

Constance assumed an air of indignant reproof, but in the midst of it she
laughed.

'I wish you wouldn't be so funny, Tony; I can't scold you as much as you
deserve. But I am angry just the same, and if anything like that ever
happens again I shall be very _very_ angry.'

'Signorina, I would not make you very _very_ angry for anysing. As long
as I live nosing like zat shall happen again. No, nevair, I promise.'

They plunged into a pine wood and climbed for another two hours, the
summit always vanishing before them like a mirage. At the end of that
time they were apparently no nearer their goal than when they had
started. They had followed first one path, then another, until they had
lost all sense of direction, and finally when they came to a place where
three paths diverged, they had to acknowledge themselves definitely lost.
Mr. Wilder elected one path, Tony another, and Constance sat down on