ns and botanical instructions (but I find you a very
dull scholar), do you mean to go traveling about, in search of
adventures and rare sights, without even asking me to be of the
party?--I, who am afflicted with a mania for traveling which can only
be cured by being gratified? But such is woman's friendship."

"My dear Lady Mabel, how do you know that my lord would trust you
so far under my care?

"So far!" said Lady Mabel, scornfully. "Did I not come from Scotland
hither, braving the perils of the sea and of the wilderness, the
stormy Bay of Biscay, and the desert of Alemtejo, teeming with robbers
and wild beasts? With no guardian but old Moodie, whose chief merit is
that of being a suspicious old Scot, with the fidelity and
snappishness of a terrier."

"I am surprised now that I sent for you," said Lord Strathern,
"considering the difficulties in the way of your coming. But you are
here, and I thank God for it. But you would find it a long, rough ride
to Evora, and the weather grows hotter every day."

"Rough roads are nothing to us who travel on horseback," Lady Mabel
said, with the air of a cavalier; "and as for the distance, it is not
much over a morning's ride. Colonel L'Isle, could not you ride there
in a morning?"

"With relays of good horses, and good luck to my neck," said L'Isle,
with a laugh. "It is about fifty miles; but one need not go the whole
way in one day."

"Of course not," she answered. "We will not ride post, but take our
ease, and see the country at our leisure."

"I see you intend going, _ma belle_," said Lord Strathern; "so I may
as well give my consent with a good grace. But is the commissary able
and willing to take charge of more than one lady, Mrs. Shortridge,
who has a will of her own? I trust, too, L'Isle, that after giving
these ladies a taste for rambling, you do not mean to desert them
now. They may need your escort. Small parties are never safe traveling
about this country. Our friends just hereabouts, especially, (I am
sorry to say it of them), are apt to fall in love with other men's
goods, and have a strong throat-cutting propensity."

"Oh, there is nothing to fear, papa," said Lady Mabel. "Our troops
occupy the country, and, if necessary, we will take Colonel L'Isle
with us for further protection. Pray, Colonel L'Isle, how many robbers
could you defend us from?"

"I would try to defend you against a hundred."

"But pray," said Mrs. Shortridge, "carry at least two serv