n run?"

"A Marathon run! What fun!" exclaimed the girl. "How far away is
Rome?"

"More than a hundred miles," he said. "Do you suppose we could
possibly reach the site of the Golden Milestone before sunset?"

Edith's eyes sparkled at the thought, and she leaned forward to speak
to the chauffeur. "Is the machine running well?" she asked. "Can we
travel one hundred miles to-day?"

The man shook his head doubtfully. "There are mountains between here
and Rome," he answered, "and it is not well to push the car too hard."

Edith looked at Rafael imploringly. "You are a man; can you not
persuade him?" she asked under her breath.

The boy was pleased to be called a man; but as he was in truth a
gallant Italian lad, he said courteously, "It is for you to persuade."

Then to the chauffeur he said, "Please stop for a moment at the first
olive-garden."

"What are you going to do?" asked Edith curiously.

"Make it easy for you to persuade," he answered; and as the car
stopped he jumped out, sprang to the top of the wall, broke off a
branch of beautiful, silvery-green leaves, and presented it to Edith
with a graceful bow.

"What can you make with the leaves?" he asked with a smile.

Edith looked at the branch thoughtfully for a moment.

"I know," she cried, "the victor's crown of olives!" and she clapped
her hands together with delight. "See," she said to the chauffeur, "if
you will reach the Golden Milestone in Rome by sunset, you shall have
a crown of olive leaves."

She said it hesitatingly. The chauffeur was a quiet, business-like
man, and Edith, with a child's judgment, supposed him to be too old to
feel a single thrill of ambition.

Perhaps he was. Perhaps it was only the desire to give pleasure to the
American girl that moved him to smile faintly and say, "Well! Well! We
will see what our car can do; but it is not at all likely that we
shall see Rome this night."

However, he began at once to increase the speed, carefully to be sure,
but with purpose.

Edith turned to the task of plaiting a wreath of leaves. As her
fingers twisted and arranged them to make the most of their dull green
upper surfaces, she asked Rafael, "What of this Golden Milestone? I
have never heard of it."

"It was a gilded stone set up in the old Roman Forum by the Emperor
Augustus," Rafael replied. "He wished to make of the city a great
trading center; and so he built many roads radiating from the Forum to
all parts of ancient Ital