ndra deemed worthy of her sister can have been no ordinary person,
and the similarity in the ending of romance in the case of both sisters
must have added a strong link of sympathy to the chain of love which
bound their lives together.

A story is given in the _Reminiscences of Sir Francis H. Doyle_, to the
effect that Mr. Austen, accompanied by Cassandra and Jane, took
advantage of the Peace of Amiens, in 1802, to undertake a foreign tour.
Whilst in Switzerland, they fell in with a young naval officer, who
speedily became attached to Jane. His love was returned, and all seemed
to be going smoothly. The party were making for Chamonix; but while the
Austens kept to such high road as there was, their friend was to make
his way thither over the mountains. The Austens reached Chamonix safely,
but their friend never arrived, and at last news came that he had
over-tired himself and died of brain fever on the way. The Austens
returned to England, and Jane resumed her ordinary life, never referring
to her adventures abroad. This story is given on the authority of a Miss
Ursula Mayow, who heard it thirty or forty years later from a niece of
Jane Austen's. Who this niece was we do not know, but she cannot have
been either of the two who were grown up before their aunt's death, for
they knew nothing of any such journey. As it stands, the story is
impossible for many reasons. We give three:--

1. Such an important and unusual event as a tour in Switzerland could
not have taken place without leaving traces behind, and there is no
shadow of a tradition of it remaining in the family.

2. They could not possibly have afforded it. George Austen had given up
his living, and was hoping to have L600 a year as a maximum for the
family party of four persons, and they had just had the expense of
setting up house in Bath.

3. We can almost prove an alibi. We know that they were at Dawlish in
the year of the Peace of Amiens, and they certainly could not have made
another lengthened absence.

The story, however, is interesting, for it fits in (so far as its main
theme is concerned) with the authentic account given above of Jane's
romance in the west, although the setting is completely different. It is
quite possible that the fiction originated in an incorrect
account--mis-heard or mis-repeated--of the true tale, mixed up with the
fact (mentioned below) that the Henry Austens went abroad at this time.

One more incident shall be narrated: a