, which is the same thing you hear about most beautiful
places. It is eight hundred feet above the Mediterranean and nestles
peacefully in the shadow of Mount Etna.'"

"Etna!" cried Uncle John, with a start. "Isn't that another volcano?"

"To be sure," said Beth, the geographer. "Etna is the biggest volcano in
the world."

"Does it spout?" he asked, anxiously.

"All the time, they say. But it is not usually dangerous."

"The proper thing, when you go to Eu-rope," declared Uncle John,
positively, "is to do Venice, where the turpentine comes from, and
Switzerland, where they make chocolate and goat's milk, and Paris and
Monte Carlo, where they kick high and melt pearls in champagne.
Everybody knows that. That's what goin' to Eu-rope really means. But
Sicily isn't on the programme, that I ever heard of. So we'll just tell
Silas Watson that we'll see him later--which means when we get home
again."

"But Sicily is beautiful," protested Patsy. "I'd as soon go there as
anywhere."

"It's a very romantic place," added Louise, reflectively.

"Everybody goes to France and Switzerland," remarked Beth. "But it's
because they don't know any better. Let's be original, Uncle, and keep
out of the beaten track of travel."

"But the volcano!" exclaimed Mr. Merrick. "Is it necessary to stick to
volcanoes to be original?"

"Etna won't hurt us, I'm sure," said Patsy.

"Isn't there a Greek theatre at Taormina?" asked Louise.

"I've never heard of it; but I suppose the Greeks have, if it's there,"
he replied. "But why not wait till we get home, and then go to Kieth's
or Hammerstein's?"

"You don't understand, dear. This theatre is very ancient."

"Playing minstrel shows in it yet, I suppose. Well, girls, if you say
Sicily, Sicily it is. All I'm after is to give you a good time, and if
you get the volcano habit it isn't my fault."

"It is possible the Count said Taormina, instead of Palermo," remarked
Louise, plaintively. "I wasn't paying much attention at the time. I'll
ask him."

The others ignored this suggestion. Said Patsy to her uncle:

"When do we go, sir?"

"Whenever you like, my dears."

"Then I vote to move on at once," decided the girl. "We've got the best
out of Naples, and it's pretty grimey here yet."

The other nieces agreed with her, so Uncle John went out to enquire the
best way to get to Sicily, and to make their arrangements.

The steamer "Victor Emmanuel" of the Navigazione General Italiana line
w