at young
girl would bear his name, grace his princely home, and nestle in his
heart.

He did not ask, Can that fair, graceful, gifted young thing ever love
a gray-haired man, old enough to call her his daughter? Nay, nay!
Common sense was utterly dethroned and expelled,--romance usurped the
realm, and draped the future with rainbows; and he only set his teeth
firmly against each other, and said to his bounding heart and blinded
soul, "Patience, ye shall soon possess her!"

To Paris, Lyons, Naples, he had followed her, and finally secured a
villa at Palermo, where Prof. V---- had established himself and his
household in a comfortable suite of rooms.

To-day, as he left his sister and approached the house where the
professor dwelt, his countenance was moody and forbidding, but its
expression changed rapidly, as he caught a glimpse of the white muslin
dress that fluttered in the evening wind.

Salome was swiftly pacing the wide terrace that commanded a view of
the Mediterranean, and her hands were clasped behind her, as was her
habit when immersed in thought.

Over her head she had thrown a white gauze scarf of fringed silk,
which, slipping back, displayed the elaborate braids of hair wound
around the head, where a crescent of snowy hyacinths partially
encircled the glossy coil, and drooped upon her neck.

Her face wore a haggard, anxious, restless expression, and the thin
lips had lost their bright coral tint,--the smooth, clear cheeks
something of their rounded perfection.

As Mr. Minge came forward, she paused in her walk and leaned against
the marble railing of the terrace, where a lemon tree, white with
bloom, overhung the mosaiced floor and powdered it with velvety
petals.

He held out his hand.

"I hope I find you better?"

"Do I look so, think you?" said she, eyeing him impatiently, and
keeping her hands folded behind her.

"Unfortunately, no; and if I possessed the right I have more than once
solicited, other physicians should be consulted. Why will you tamper
with so serious a matter, and unnecessarily augment the anxiety of
those who love you?"

"I beg you to believe that my self-love is infinitely stronger than
any other with which I am honored, and prompts me to all possible
prudential precautions. Three doctors have already annoyed me with
worthless prescriptions, and this morning I paid their bills and
dismissed them; whereupon, one of them revenged himself by maliciously
informing me that