rare intervals a steamboat, bright and neat as
a new toy, trailed a long feather of smoke from the foot of the
Rigi, shed a small and dusty crowd into the sleepy town, and then
bustled back, shearing the silken flood and strangely distorting its
reflections.

"The worst of Lucerne," said Mrs. Sylvester--"the worst of Lucerne
is that one can't escape from Mount Pilatus and the Lion. The
inhabitants all think that Pilatus regulates the weather, and they
would certainly give their Lion the preference over the Venus of
Milo."

They were all sitting on the terrace in front of the Schweitzerhof;
Lady Garnett and Mary, Mrs. Sylvester and Eve. Lady Garnett and her
companion were but newly arrived, and, as birds of passage,
preferred the hotel to a _pension_. The Sylvesters had been staying in
the quaint, rambling town for nearly a fortnight. It was their usual
summer resort, and although the spring of each year found them
deciding to go elsewhere for a change, in the end they nearly always
proved faithful to the familiar lake. Their _pension_--they regarded
it almost as a country house--was such an inducement! The Pension
Bungay was maintained by an old servant of the family, who, when he
began to find the duties of butler too exacting for his declining
years, gave a warning, which applied also to one of his
fellow-servants, the cook, to wit, a lady of Continental origin, who
had consented to become Madame Bungay; and the pair, having souls
above public-houses, and relying on their not inconsiderable
connection among the servants of Mayfair, had boldly and
successfully launched into an independent career as sole proprietors
and managers of the Pension Bungay, Lucerne.

"Yes," said Lady Garnett sympathetically; "I suppose Pilatus _is_
rather monotonous. It's rather too near, I think. It ought to be far
away, and covered with snow, more like the Jungfrau, which we have
been worshipping at Interlaken, where, by the way, there are
positively more Americans than natives."

"Oh," Mrs. Sylvester chimed in, "isn't it dreadful the way they
overrun Europe nowadays! There are two American families staying at
our _pension_, and you see them everywhere."

"I think I rather like them. They amuse me, you know, and somehow,
though it may be disloyal for me, as a naturalized Englishwoman, to
say so, as a rule they comport themselves much better than the
ordinary British tourist. Of course, the country is not so
accessible for the Ameri