s: cuff-buttons made from bits of marble
picked up among the ruins of Carthage; diamond crescents and ear-rings
bought in Toledo, so antique and splendid that relic-loving Amanda raved
about them; photographs of the _belles_ of Constantinople, Moorish coins
and pipes, bits of curious Indian embroidery; and, best of all, the
power of telling how each thing was found in so graphic a manner that
Eastern bazaars, ruins, and palaces seemed to rise before the listeners
as in the time of the magic story-tellers. But all too soon he packed
his knapsack, and promising to bring each of his friends the nose or ear
of one of the shattered saints from the great cathedral at Strasbourg,
the 'Peri' vanished from Paradis, and left them all lamenting.

The little flurry in Italy ending peacefully, our travellers after much
discussion resolved to cross the Alps and spend the winter in Rome, if
possible. So with tragic farewells from those they left behind them,
who, hoping to keep them longer, predicted all manner of misfortunes,
the three strong-minded ladies rumbled away in the _coupe_ of a
diligence to Brieg.

A lovely day's journey up the valley of the Rhone, and a short night's
rest in the queer little town at the foot of the mountains.

Before light the next morning they were called, and, after a hurried
breakfast in a stony hall, went shivering out into the darkness, and,
stumbling through the narrow street, came to the starting-point.
Lanterns were dancing about the square, two great diligences loomed up
before them, horses were tramping, men shouting, and eager travellers
scrambling for places. In the dimly lighted office, people were
clamouring for tickets, scolding at the delay, or grimly biding their
time in corners, with one eye asleep, and the other sharply watching the
conductor.

'Isn't it romantic?' cried Matilda, wide awake, and in a twitter of
excitement.

'It is frightfully cold; and I don't see how we are going, for both
those caravans are brimful,' croaked Lavinia, chafing her purple nose,
and wishing it had occurred to her to buy a muff before going to sunny
Italy.

'I have got through tickets, and some one is bound to see us over these
snow-banks, so "trust in Providence and the other man," and we shall
come out right, I assure you,' replied the energetic Amanda, who had
conferred with a spectral being in the darkness, and blindly put her
faith in him.

Away lumbered one diligence after the other, the fir