,' he added.

'Kindest and oldest friends!' thought Herbert to himself. 'Well, this
is strange indeed.'

'It is but a slight distance,' said Lady Annabel, who thought it
necessary to enforce the invitation. 'We live in the valley, of which
yonder hill forms a part.'

'And there we have passed our winter and our spring,' added Venetia,
'almost as delightfully as you could have done at Athens.'

'Well,' thought Cadurcis to himself, 'I have seen many of the world's
marvels, but this day is a miracle.'

When they had proceeded through the olive-wood, and mounted the
acclivity, they arrived at a path which permitted the ascent of only
one person at a time. Cadurcis was last, and followed Venetia. Unable
any longer to endure the suspense, he was rather irritated that she
kept so close to her father; he himself loitered a few paces behind,
and, breaking off a branch of laurel, he tossed it at her. She looked
round and smiled; he beckoned to her to fall back. 'Tell me, Venetia,'
he said, 'what does all this mean?'

'It means that we are at last all very happy,' she replied. 'Do you
not see my father?'

'Yes; and I am very glad to see him; but this company is the very last
in which I expected to have that pleasure.'

'It is too long a story to tell now; you must imagine it.'

'But are you glad to see me?'

'Very.'

'I don't think you care for me the least.'

'Silly Lord Cadurcis!' she said, smiling.

'If you call me Lord Cadurcis, I shall immediately go back to the
brig, and set sail this night for Athens.'

'Well then, silly Plantagenet!'

He laughed, and they ran on.

CHAPTER III.

'Well, I am not surprised that you should have passed your time
delightfully here,' said Lord Cadurcis to Lady Annabel, when they had
entered the villa; 'for I never beheld so delightful a retreat. It is
even more exquisite than your villa on the lake, of which George gave
me so glowing a description. I was almost tempted to hasten to you.
Would you have smiled on me!' he added, rather archly, and in a
coaxing tone.

'I am more gratified that we have met here,' said Lady Annabel.

'And thus,' added Cadurcis.

'You have been a great traveller since we last met?' said Lady
Annabel, a little embarrassed.

'My days of restlessness are over,' said Cadurcis. 'I desire nothing
more dearly than to settle down in the bosom of these green hills as
you have done.'

'This life suits Mr. Herbert,' said Lady Annabel. 'He is