l sons of Adam, mademoiselle," said he, with a polite bow; and
it was clear that he could postpone spiritual questions to such time as
temporal matters might be fully completed.

As the chapel was fully twenty minutes' walk from the villa, and much
higher on the mountain side, had it even been frequented by the
country people it could not have been any cause of inconvenience to the
occupants of the villa; and this matter being settled, and some small
conditions as to surrender being agreed to, Bramleigh engaged to take it
for three years, with a power to purchase if he desired it.

Long after the contract was signed and completed, the old Count
continued, in a half-complaining tone, to dwell on the great sacrifice
he had made, what sums of money were to be made of the lemons and
oranges, how the figs were celebrated even at Ragusa, and Fontanella
melons had actually brought ten kreutzers--three-halfpence--apiece in
the market at Zara.

"Who is it," cried Julia, as the old man took his leave, "who said that
the old mercantile spirit never died out in the great Venetian families,
and that the descendants of the doges, with all their pride of blood and
race, were dealers and traders whenever an occasion of gain presented
itself?"

"Our old friend there has not belied the theory," said Bramleigh; "but I
am right glad that we have secured La Fontanella."

CHAPTER LI. SOME NEWS FROM WITHOUT

There is a sad significance in the fact that the happiest days of our
lives are those most difficult to chronicle; it is as though the very
essence of enjoyment was its uneventful nature. Thus was it that the
little household at the Fontanels felt their present existence. Its
simple pleasures, its peacefulness never palled upon them. There was
that amount of general similarity in tastes amongst them that secures
concord, and that variety of disposition and temperament which promotes
and sustains interest.

Julia was the life of all; for, though seeming to devote herself to the
cares of housethrift and management, and in reality carrying on all the
details of management, it was she who gave to their daily life its color
and flavor, she who suggested occupations and interest to each;
and while Augustus was charged to devote his gun and his rod to the
replenishment of the larder, George was converted into a gardener; all
the decorative department of the household being confided to Nelly,
who made the bouquets for the breakfast