e to go home, and Barbara to be
his wife! You did not think, did you, mamma, what would come from our
year in Italy? Just think! Suppose you had not asked Barbara and Betty
to come with us! What then?"

"That is too bewildering a question for you to trouble yourself with, my
child. There is no end to that kind of reasoning.

"And," she added gently, "it is not a question that Faith would ask.
The only truth is that God was leading me in a way I did not know, and
for ends I could not foresee. That which I did from a feeling of pure
love for my dear neighbors and friends was destined to bring me the one
great blessing I had longed for during many years. Oh! it does seem too
good to be true that Robert is so happy, and that he is coming home."

And for the seventieth-times-seven time Mrs. Douglas breathed a silent
thanksgiving as she heard the approaching footsteps of her brother.

For Barbara and Robert Sumner the last days spent in Venice were filled
with a peculiar joy. The revulsion of feeling, the unexpected,
despaired-of happiness, the untrammelled intercourse, the full sympathy
of those dear to them,--all this could be experienced but once.

Only one person was out of tune with the general feeling. This was
Lucile Sherman. She returned a polite note in reply to that which Mrs.
Douglas had at once sent her containing information of her brother's
engagement to Barbara. In it she wrote that her friends had very
suddenly decided to leave Venice for the Tyrol, and she must be content
to go with them without even coming to say good-by and to offer, in
person, her congratulations. Mrs. Douglas at first thought of going to
her, if but for a moment; then decided that perhaps it would be best to
let it be as she had so evidently chosen.

In a few days they also left Venice,--for Milan, stopping on the way for
a day or two at Padua. They were to visit this city chiefly for the
purpose of seeing Giotto's frescoes in the Arena Chapel, and Mantegna's
in the Eremitani, although, as Mr. Sumner said, the gray old city is
well worth a visit for many other reasons. The antiquity of its origin,
which its citizens are proud to refer to Antenor, the mythical King of
Troy, accounts for the thoroughly venerable appearance of some quarters.
It is difficult, however, to believe that it was ever the wealthiest
city in upper Italy, as it is reported to have been under the reign of
Augustus. During the Middle Ages it was one of the most fa