reat interest in seeing them," said Mrs. Gray.

In some places the old pavement of the theatre had been laid bare, and
was plainly to be seen by holding the candles down close to the ground.
In other places the painting on the walls had been found, with the
colors quite fresh.

"These must be places that the hot lava did not come to," said Rollo.

"I suppose so," said Mr. George.

It was not possible to obtain any information from the guide, for he
could speak no language but the Italian, with the exception of a few
English words and phrases, which he pronounced in so outlandish a
manner, and mingled them up so much with his Neapolitan dialect, that it
was very difficult to recognize them.

"Questa vindow; vindow orizhinalle," he would say, meaning that the
opening that he was pointing to was one of the original windows of the
edifice. And then he would go on with a long sentence in the Neapolitan
dialect, which was perfectly unintelligible from beginning to end.

At length the exploration was ended, and the whole party ascended again
to the surface of the ground. The guide took the candles from their
hands as they came up, and Philippe paid him his fee. Mr. George led the
way to the carriage, which was still waiting at the door. It was
surrounded, as before, with poor children and beggars, who set up a loud
clamor for alms as soon as the party made their appearance.

Mr. George took no notice of them, but opened the door for Mrs. Gray and
Rosie to get in. They got in, and Mrs. Gray took her place on the
forward seat of the carriage,--that is, with her back to the
horses,--and Rosie sat down by the side of her.

"The other is your seat, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George.

"No," said Mrs. Gray; "we are going to ride here now, and let you and
the boys have the back seat."

"O, no, Mrs. Gray," said Mr. George; "please take the back seat."

"By and by I will," said Mrs. Gray, "but not now."

So Mr. George and the two boys got in and took the back seat, which was
a great deal better than the forward seat, as it afforded so much better
opportunity to see.

All this was done in a moment, and Philippe, after shutting the door and
mounting the box with the coachman, gave the order to drive on.

"I think you and Rosie ought to have this seat, Mrs. Gray," said Rollo.

"I have had that seat already for an hour," said Mrs. Gray. "There is no
reason why I should have it all the time."

"Why, yes," said Rollo; "because you