ard of his intention and
unanimously requested him to let her alone, which, he did, reluctantly
yielding to arguments which shall remain a secret. A certain Archduchess
who was at Saint Moritz and was curious to see her adopted the simple
plan of asking her to tea without knowing her, at which Marcello was
furious; a semi-imperial Russian personage unblushingly scraped
acquaintance with Marcello and was extremely bland for a few days, in
the hope of being introduced to Regina. When he found that this was
impossible, he went away, not in the least disconcerted, and he was
heard to say that the girl "would go far."

Regina would have been blind if she had not been aware that she
attracted all this attention, and as she was probably not intended by
nature for a saint, she would have been pleased by it if there had been
room in her thoughts for any one but Marcello--even for herself.

She walked far up the road, and after the first mile or two she met no
one. At that hour the people who made excursions were already far away,
and those who meant to do nothing stayed nearer to Pontresina. She grew
tired of the road after a time. It led straight to the foot of the
glacier, and she was not attracted by snow and ice as northern people
are; there was something repellent to her in the thought of the
bleakness and cold, and the sunshine itself looked as hard as the
distant peaks on which it fell. But on the right there were rocky spurs
of the mountains, half covered with short trees and brilliant with wild
flowers that grew in little natural gardens here and there, not far
below the level of perpetual snow. She left the road, and began to climb
where there was no path. The air was delicious with the scent of flowers
and shrubs; there were alp-roses everywhere, and purple gentian, and the
little iva blossom that has an aromatic smell, and on tiny moss ledges
the cold white stars of the edelweiss seemed to be keeping themselves as
far above reach as they could. But she climbed as lightly as a savage
woman, and picked them and sat down to look at them in the sunshine.
Just beyond where she rested, the rock narrowed suddenly to a steep
pass, within which were dark shadows. People who do not attempt anything
in the way of ascending peaks often wander in that direction in search
of edelweiss, but Regina fancied that she was sure to be alone as long
as she pleased to stay.

If she had not been sure of that she would not have taken off h