he Hermitage, and he came too. Well, you know, I think I was very
much excited, and I asked Dowdy to let us go and see the cone; so she
let us go. She gave no end of warnings, and we promised to do all that
she said. So Ethel and I went out, and there was the stranger. Well, I
felt more excited than ever, and a little bit frightened--just a very,
very, tiny, little bit, you know, and I teased Ethel to go to the
cone. Well, the stranger kept in sight all the time, you know, and I
_felt_ his eyes on me--I really _felt_ them. So, you know, when we got
at the foot of the cone, I was so excited that I was really quite
beside myself, and I teased and teased, till at last Ethel consented
to go up. So the men took us up on chairs, and all the time the
stranger was in sight. He walked up by himself with great, big, long,
strong strides. So we went on till we got at the top, and then I was
wilder than ever. I didn't know that there was a particle of danger. I
was dying with curiosity to look down, and see where the smoke came
from. The stranger was standing there too, and that's what made me so
excited. I wanted to show him--I don't know what. I think my idea was
to show him that I could take care of myself. So then I teased and
teased, and Ethel begged and prayed, and she cried, and I laughed; and
there stood the stranger, seeing it all, until at last I started off,
and ran up to the top, you know."

Mrs. Willoughby shuddered, and took her sister's hand.

"There was no end of smoke, you know, and it was awfully unpleasant,
and I got to the top I don't know how, when suddenly I fainted."

Minnie paused for a moment, and looked at her sister with a rueful
face.

"Well, now, dear, darling, the very--next--thing--that I remember is
this, and it's horrid: I felt awful jolts, and found myself in the
arms of a great, big, horrid man, who was running down the side of the
mountain with dreadfully long jumps, and I felt as though he was some
horrid ogre carrying poor me away to his den to eat me up. But I
didn't say one word. I wasn't much frightened. I felt provoked. I knew
it was that horrid man. And then I wondered what you'd say; and I
thought, oh, how you _would_ scold! And then I knew that this horrid
man would chase me away from Italy; and then I would have to go to
Turkey, and have my life saved by a Mohammedan. And that was horrid.

"Well, at last he stopped and laid me down. He was very gentle, though
he was so big. I kept