ny performed by an unseen
orchestra; it seemed as if Liszt might have composed it, and as if the
score was particularly strong in trombones and drums. Then the scene
changed, and I was on a ship in a storm at sea; the gale was blowing my
hair about, and huge rain-drops occasionally struck my face. Sophronia
was by my side; but, instead of glorying with me in meeting the
storm-king in his home, she complained bitterly of the rain. The
unaccountable absence of her constitutional romanticism provoked me, and
I remonstrated so earnestly, that the effort roused me to wakefulness.
But Sophronia's complaining continued. I had scarcely realized that I
was in a cottage chamber instead of on a ship's deck, when Sophronia
exclaimed:

"Pierre, I wonder if a shower-bath hasn't been arranged just where our
bed stands? because drops of water are falling in my face once in a
while. They are lovely and cool, but they trickle off on the pillow, and
that don't feel nice."

I lit a candle, and examined the ceiling; directly over Sophronia's head
there was a heavy blotch, from the centre of which the water was
dropping.

"Another result of taking that liquid blue-eyed agent's word," I
growled, hastily moving the bed and its occupant, and setting the basin
on the floor to catch the water and save the carpet.

"Why, Pierre!" exclaimed Sophronia, as I blew out the light, "how unjust
you are. Who could expect an agent to go over the roof like a cat, and
examine each shingle? Gracious! it's dropping here, too!"

Again I lighted the candle and moved the bed, but before I had time to
retire Sophronia complained that a stream was trickling down upon her
feet. The third time the bed was moved water dropped down upon _my_
pillow, and the room was too small to re-locate the bed so that none of
these unauthorized hydrants should moisten us. Then we tried our spare
chamber, but that was equally damp.

Suddenly I bethought myself of another war relic; and, hurrying to an
old trunk, extracted an india-rubber blanket. This, if we kept very
close together, kept the water out, but almost smothered us. We changed
our positions by sitting up, back to back, and dropping the rubber
blanket over our heads. By this arrangement the air was allowed to
circulate freely, and we had some possibilities of conversation left us;
but the effect of the weight of the blanket resting largely upon our
respective noses was somewhat depressing. Suddenly Sophronia remarked