isappointment still upon
them, but with excellent appetites for dinner.

In the _Salle a manger_ they met with a miscellaneous assortment of
tourists. These, of whom there were above thirty, varied not only as to
size and feature, but as to country and experience. There were veteran
Alpine men--steady, quiet, bronzed-looking fellows, some of them--who
looked as if they had often "attacked" and conquered the most dangerous
summits, and meant to do so again. There were men, and women too, from
England, America, Germany, France, and Russia. Some had been at
Chamouni before, and wore the self-possessed air of knowledge; others
had obviously never been there before, and were excited. Many were full
of interest and expectation, a few, chiefly very young men, wore a
_blase_, half-pitiful, half-patronising air, as though to say, "that's
right, good people, amuse yourselves with your day-dreams while you may.
_We_ have tried a few weeks of this sort of thing, and have done a
summit or two; in imagination we have also been up Mont Blanc and Monte
Rosa, and the Matterhorn, and a few of the Hymalaya peaks, and most of
the mountains in the moon, and several of the fixed stars, and--haw--are
now rather boa-ord with it all than otherwise!" There were men who had
done much and who said little, and men who had done little and who spoke
much. There were "ice-men" who had a desire to impart their knowledge,
and would-be ice-men who were glad to listen. Easy-going men and women
there were, who flung the cares of life behind them, and "went in," as
they said, for enjoyment; and who, with abounding animal spirits, a dash
of religious sentiment, much irrepressible humour and fun, were really
pleasant objects to look at, and entertaining companions to travel with.
Earnest men and women there were, too, who gathered plants and insects,
and made pencil-sketches and water-colour drawings during their rambles
among mountains and valleys, and not a few of whom chronicled faithfully
their experiences from day to day. There was a Polish Count, a tall,
handsome, middle-aged, care-worn, anxious-looking man, who came there,
apparently in search of health, and who was cared for and taken care of
by a dark-eyed little daughter. This daughter was so beautiful, that it
ought to have made the Count well--so thought most of the young men--
simply to look at her! There was a youthful British Lord, who had come
to "do" Mont Blanc and a few other peaks