ies to
remember, in Newport, though never one like this; but perhaps the
magical charm of it was partly dependent on the gleaming river.

When the daylight blue had faded, there was a kind of dusky lull. Then,
as if flames leaped up out of the clear water, river and mountains and
sky ran gold, reddening slowly till the colour burned deep and vivid as
the heart of a rose. From crimson was born violet, soft blue-violet
that hung like a robe over the mountains, while the living azure of the
river was slashed with silver; and as one gazed and gazed, afraid to
turn away, there broke a sudden flood of amethyst light out of the
floating haze. It was dazzling for a moment, but before one realised
the change the brilliance had been drunk up by purple shadows. The
outline of trees and foot-hills melted into the pansy gloom, and at
last, with one dying quiver of light all warmth of colour was blotted
out. Water and sky paled to a pensive grey-blue, and as the French say,
"it made night."

There was a tremendous menu for dinner, such as we used to have for
breakfast on shipboard, and droves of things whose names I'd never
heard before. Just for curiosity, I ordered several of the strangest,
and some of them were a great success. For instance, there was
"succotash," which sounds as if it might be a guttural insult flung at
the mouth of one Red Indian Brave by another; but when it was
(figuratively speaking) flung at mine by a black waiter, it turned out
to be something more in the nature of a compliment. It looked like
beryls mixed with pearls, though it was really only green beans stirred
up with American corn; and the two got on so well together you felt
they had been born for each other.

It's now about two o'clock in the morning, and it seems as if we must
have raced across half America, but we have a long, long way to go
still, so says the soft brown thing, who looked in on me about an hour
ago to ask in a casual way whether, if she should go to Europe to live,
she might not be taken for an Italian?

When I was a little girl, and my nurse used to make up tales to put me
to sleep at night, I would sometimes get impatient and tell her to "go
down into the story and find out what happened next." Just now, I feel
as if that is what I should like to do in my future.

XV

ABOUT SEEING CHICAGO

The first face I saw on the platform when we arrived in Chicago was Mr.
Brett's. He was waiting to help me, and looked as fre