of a pair
who had recently sworn to keep each other warm for life.

Had he been asked for his opinion concerning us, his reply expressed in
his native tongue would have been briefly--

"Honey mooners!"

As I had reason to believe, after finding that we were perfectly
indifferent as to where we went, he decided to have a little trip to
suit his own convenience. He would go and see his sister at the
Convent of The Nativity up the lake.

He continued sagely nodding his head as he rowed us away, and in reply
to a question of mine as to what direction he had decided on, winked
confidentially.

"Monsieur et madame," he replied, "leave it to me. You will have a
great surprise."

We did, but not in the way he intended.

On the dark face of the boatman as he worked steadily up the lake I saw
both perplexity and concern; first, although I held Dolores' hand, as I
usually did on such occasions when we were alone--or nearly so, for the
Swiss oarsman counted for little--yet the man saw no yearning desire on
my part to _kiss_ her, as was the case with most husbands in the early
days of the _lune de miel_.

Several times I noticed that he gave me opportunity by turning round
and straining his neck to see imaginary obstacles in the way for the
fulfilment of this custom, which, to his surprise, I did not avail
myself of. There were no blushes, no abrupt separations, and no
assumed looks of unconcern when he turned round again.

The situation was a puzzling one. But there was a pale cast of thought
over his features in addition, which I only knew the reason for later
on. He was puzzling his brains to find an excuse for taking us to the
very plain looking convent up the lake which, although beautifully
situated, yet presented no extraordinary attractions beyond a well
ordered and ancient garden, laid out in terraces on the side of one of
the lower slopes of the mountains, and, of course, the beautiful view.
Therefore when, at that curve in the lake when the Rigi comes into
fullest view, a smile of satisfaction overspread the boatman's face, I
knew, after, that he had solved the difficulty and found the excuse for
taking us to such a very ordinary resort.

"I will show these simple English people," he had reasoned, "the
long-haired goats. I will make a _specialite_ of these animals for the
delectation of this cold-blooded bride and bridegroom, who do not kiss
when I turn round to observe the prospect."

In the course