was a mountain-top so pure, so faint so high and inexpressibly far
off, yet so brilliant in a glow of sunshine, that it seemed as if heaven
had been opened, and one of the hills of Paradise revealed. It was the
first near view that the travellers had obtained of these mountains of
everlasting ice. With the exception of the exclamations "Wonderful!"
"Most glorious!" they found no words for a time to express their
feelings, and seemed glad to escape the necessity of doing so by
listening to the remarks of their driver, as he went into an elaborate
explanation of the name and locality of the particular part of Mont
Blanc that had been thus disclosed.

The rent in the mist closed almost as quickly as it had opened, utterly
concealing the beautiful vision; but the impression it had made, being a
first and a very deep one, could never more be removed. The travellers
lived now in the faith of what they had seen. Scepticism was no longer
possible, and in this improved frame of mind they dashed into the
village of Chamouni--one of the haunts of those whose war-cry is
"Excelsior!"--and drove to the best hotel.

Their arrival in the village was an unexpected point of interest to many
would-be mountaineers, who lounged about the place with macintoshes and
umbrellas, growling at the weather. Any event out of the common forms a
subject of interest to men who wait and have nothing to do. As the
party passed them, growlers gazed and speculated as to who the
new-comers might be. Some thought Miss Gray pretty; some thought
otherwise--to agree on any point on such a day being, of course,
impossible. Others "guessed" that the young fellows must be uncommonly
fond of riding to "get on the outside of a horse" in such weather; some
remarked that the "elderly female" seemed "used up," or "_blasee_," and
all agreed--yes, they _did_ agree on this point--that the thing in blue
tights and buttons beside the driver was the most impudent-looking
monkey the world had ever produced!

The natives of the place also had their opinions, and expressed them to
each other; especially the bronzed, stalwart sedate-looking men who hung
about in knots near the centre of the village, and seemed to estimate
the probability of the stout young Englishmen on horseback being likely
to require their services often--for these, said the driver, were the
celebrated guides of Chamouni; men of bone and muscle, and endurance and
courage; the leaders of those daring