her Smith.
"She is indeed a remarkable woman, for only this morning I received a
letter in which she informed me that very soon I should meet you, young
man, under peculiar circumstances, how peculiar she did not add. Well,
I congratulate you and the young lady. I assure you, you made quite a
pretty picture with nothing but that flower between you, though, I
admit, it was rough on the flower. If I remember right you are fond of
the classics, as I am, and will recall to mind a Greek poet named
Theocritus. I think, had he been wandering here in the Alps to-day, he
would have liked to write one of his idylls about you two and that
flower."

"Because of the interruption give pardon, for it is owed an apology,"
said the solemn Professor, adding, "I think it must have been the
emanation of Madame Riennes herself which led us to this place, where
we did not at all mean to come, for she is very anxious to know how you
progress and what you are doing."

"Yes, young friend," broke in Brother Smith, not without a touch of
malice, for like the rest he was resentful of Godfrey's desertion of
their "circle," "and now we shall be able to tell her."

"Say then," said Juliette, "who are these gentlemen, and of what do
they talk?"

"They--are--friends of mine," Godfrey began to explain with awkward
hesitation, but she cut him short with:

"I like not your friends. They make a mock of me, and I will never
forgive you."

"But Juliette, I----" he began, and got no further, for she turned and
ran away. Anxious to explain, he ran after her, pursued by the loud
hilarity of the intruding pair. In vain, for Juliette was singularly
swift of foot, and he might as well have pursued Atalanta.

She reached the Maison Blanche, which fortunately was empty, a clear
ten yards ahead of him, and shut herself in her room, whence, declaring
that she had a headache, she did not emerge till the following morning.

Godfrey departed to the observatory where he often worked in summer,
feeling very sore and full of reflections. He had not really meant to
kiss Juliette, at least he thought not, and it was unthinkable that she
meant to kiss him, since, so far as he was aware, no young woman ever
wanted to do such a thing, being, every one of them, doubtless, as
unapproachable and frigid as the topmost, snowy peak of the Alps. (Such
was, and always remained his attitude, where the other sex was
concerned, one not without inconvenience in a practical world o