ea only appealed to their ear. Homer's adjectives
for the sea are only expressive of sound--the resounding, the jubilant,
the loud-rushing; hardly more than once does he allude to the gloomy or
the wine-colored sea."

"You have your classics at your fingers' ends, like any philologist."

"That need not surprise you. With regard to the really beautiful, I
have neither pride nor prejudice. Even the fact that the common herd of
the reading public has made a point of praising him for a hundred years
does not prevent me from enjoying a true poet."

"But if you dislike the sea so much why do you come here?"

"Oh," laughed the handsome lady, "that is the fault of my doctors. They
sent me to the sea to thin me down, and by their orders I was to choose
a very dull, very remote bathing place, where I should be sure not to
meet any acquaintances. For directly I have friends about me, I enjoy
myself, laugh, talk, and then I get stout again. Now to-day, for
instance, I have acted contrary to my medical orders--I have had a very
pleasant chat with you."

"You are too kind. You have given everything and received nothing in
return."

"That is exactly what I like--always to give, never to receive."

"That is not woman's way usually. But you are very exceptional. Pardon
a possibly indiscreet question--do you write?"

"Good gracious! Do I look like a blue-stocking?"

"I never made a distinct picture of that type."

"You need not be afraid, I am not an authoress. The most I have ever
done in that way was to give a novelist, or a comedy-writer of my
acquaintance, a little help now and then. When they want a lady's
letter, they like me to write it. But you--I suppose you are an author?"

"No, madame; I study natural science."

"A professor then?"

"No, only an amateur."

"Ah! And you are French?"

"I am German."

"Impossible!" exclaimed the lady.

"Why impossible?" asked Wilhelm, smiling.

"You have no accent, and you look--"

"You probably think that every German has light blue eyes, flaxen hair,
and a long pipe?"

"That is certainly pretty much how we picture Germans to ourselves in
Spain."

It was his turn to be surprised. "You a Spaniard?"

"And how had you pictured a Spanish lady? Of course with jet black eyes
and hair, and a mantilla?"

Wilhelm nodded.

"There are fair Spaniards, however, as you see. In fact, it is very
common in our best families--an inheritance perhaps from our Gothic
ancestors."

"