ated
Helen who summoned Bower from his contemplation of the weather
portents.

"We may be besieged," she cried; "but at any rate we are not on famine
rations. What a spread! You could hardly have brought more food if you
fancied we might be kept here a week."

The sustained physical effort called for during the last part of the
climb seemed to have dispelled his fit of abstraction. Being an
eminently adaptable man, he responded to her mood. "Ah, that sounds
more like the enthusiast who set forth so gayly from the Kursaal this
morning," he answered, pulling the door ajar before he took a seat by
her side on the bench. "A few minutes ago you were ready to condemn me
as several kinds of idiot for going on in the teeth of our Switzers'
warnings. Now, confess!"

"I don't think I could have climbed another ten yards," she admitted.

"Our haste was due to Barth's anxiety. He wanted to save you from a
drenching. It was a near thing, and with the thermometer falling a
degree a minute soaked garments might have brought very unpleasant
consequences. But that was our only risk. Old mountaineer as I am, I
hardly expected such a blizzard in August, after such short notice
too. Otherwise, now that we are safely housed, you are fortunate in
securing a memorable experience. The storm will soon blow over; but it
promises to be lively while it lasts."

Helen was sipping her coffee. Perhaps her eyes conveyed the question
her tongue hesitated to utter. Bower smiled pleasantly, and
gesticulated with hands and shoulders in a way that was foreign to
his studiously cultivated English habit of repose. Indeed, with his
climber's garb he seemed to have acquired a new manner. There was a
perplexing change in him since the morning.

"Yes," he said. "I understand perfectly. You and I might sing _lieder
ohne worte_, Miss Wynton. I have known these summer gales to last four
days; but pray do not be alarmed," for Helen nearly dropped her cup in
quick dismay; "my own opinion is that we shall have a delightful
afternoon. Of course, I am a discredited prophet. Ask Barth."

The guide, hearing his name mentioned, glanced at them, though he was
engaged at the moment in taking the wrappings off a quantity of bread,
cold chicken, and slices of ham and beef. He agreed with Bower. The
barometer stood high when they left the hotel. He thought, as all men
think who live in the open, that "the sharper the blast the sooner
it's past."

"Moreover," broke in