oncluded, as Charlotte came
smiling up with the tea.

CHAPTER XVII.

'BIDE A WEE.'

Come unto these yellow sands,
And then take hands!
Tempest

The Ponsonby family were spending the hot season at Chorillos, the
Peruvian watering-place, an irregular assembly of cane-built,
mud-besmeared ranches, close on the shore of the Pacific, with the
mountains seeming to rise immediately in the rear.

They had gone for Mr. Ponsonby's health, and Rosita's amusement; and in
the latter object they had completely succeeded. In her bathing-dress,
full trousers, and a beautifully-embroidered blouse, belted at the
waist, a broad-brimmed straw hat, and her raven hair braided in two
long tresses, she wandered on the shore with many another fair
Limenian, or entered the sea under the protection of a brown Indian;
and, supported by mates or gourds, would float for hours together among
her companions, splashing about, and playing all sorts of frolics, like
so many mermaids.

In the evening she returned to more terrestrial joys, and arraying
herself in some of her infinite varieties of ball-dresses, with flowers
and jewels in her hair, a tiny Panama hat cocked jauntily on the top of
her head, and a rich shawl with one end thrown over the shoulder, she
would step daintily out in her black satin shoes, with old Xavier in
attendance, or sometimes with Robson as her cavalier, to meet her
friends on the beach, or make a call in the lamp-lit corridor of some
other rancho. There were innumerable balls, dances, and pic-nics to
the rich and fertile villages and haciendas around, and fetes of every
description almost every evening; visits to the tombs of the old
Peruvians, whose graves were often rudely and lightly searched for the
sake of their curious images and golden ornaments. The Senora declared
it was the most lovely summer she had ever spent, and that nothing
should induce her to return to Lima while her friends remained there.

The other object, of re-invigorating Mr. Ponsonby, had not been
attained. He had been ailing for some time past, and, instead of
deriving benefit from the sea-breezes, only missed the comforts of
home. He was so testy and exacting that Mary would have seldom liked
to leave him to himself, even if she had been disposed to lead the life
of a fish; and she was seldom away from him, unless Robson came down
from Lima to transact business with him.

Mary dreaded these interviews,