g on the rows of delicate shafts, seemed to
linger lovingly, and invest them with a halo of golden light.

"What must these temples have been when the world was young!" said Miss
Morley. "If we could only get a glimpse of them as they were more than
two thousand years ago. Think what processions must have paced down
those glorious aisles. Priests and singers and worshipers all crowned
with flowers. The rose gardens of Paestum used to be famous among the
Roman poets. The marvel is that the stones have stood all these
centuries of time. It seems as if Art and Beauty have triumphed over
decay."

The party had brought lunch baskets, and they now sat down on the steps
of the Temple of Neptune to enjoy their picnic. Fortunately the grounds
of the ruins were enclosed by railings, so they were preserved from the
attentions of a group of beggar children, who had greeted the arrival of
the char-a-banc with outstretched palms and torrents of entreaties for
"soldi," and who were hanging about the gate evidently waiting for any
fresh opportunity that might occur of asking alms. Four lean and hungry
dogs, however, had managed to slip into the enclosure, and made
themselves a nuisance by sitting in front of the picnickers and keeping
up an incessant chorus of loud barking. The girls tried to stop the
noise by throwing them fragments of sandwiches, but their appetites were
so insatiable that they would have consumed the whole luncheon and have
barked for more, so Miss Morley, tired of the noise, finally chased them
off the premises with her umbrella.

"They're as bad as wolves. And as for the children they're shameless.
They've been taught to look upon tourists as their prey. If you go near
the gate dozens of little hands are poked through the railings and an
absolute shriek of 'soldi' arises. It spoils people's enjoyment to be so
terribly pestered by beggars. And the more you give them the more they
ask."

"They're having a try at somebody else now," remarked Rachel, watching
the crowd of small heads leave their vantage ground of the railings and
surge round a carriage which drove up. "Some other tourists are coming
to see the sights--two gentlemen and three ladies, very glad I expect to
show their tickets and get through the gate out of the reach of that
rabble. They're walking this way. They must be rather annoyed to find a
school in possession of the place."

The strangers also carried luncheon baskets, and seemed seeking a sp