d again, and saw down
below them in the loveliest of valleys a little town, its white houses
suffused by a crimson sunset glow.

"Innsbruck, madame, Innsbruck!" said a fat old Tyrolean man who had
been showing them all the beauties of his beloved country throughout the
journey.

And, though nothing could ever again have for Erica the sweet glamour
of an Italian city, yet she was glad now to have seen the last of that
sunny land, and welcomed the homely little place with its matter-of-fact
houses and prosperous comfort. She felt somehow that it would be easier
to endure now that she was fairly out of Italy.

The day after their arrival at Innsbruck was Sunday. There was no
English service as yet for the season had not begun, but Erica went
to the little Lutheran church, and Raeburn, who had never been to
a Lutheran service, went with her for the sake of studying the
congregation, the preacher, and the doctrine. Also, perhaps, because he
did not want her to feel lonely in a foreign place.

All her life long Erica remembered that Sunday. The peaceful little
church with its high pews, where they sat to sing and stood to pray, the
homely German pastor with his plain yet forcible sermon on "Das Gebet,":
the restful feeling of unity which so infinitely outweighed all the
trifling differences, and the comfort of the sweet old German chorales.
The words of one of them lingered always in her memory.

"Fuhlt Seel und Leib ein Wohl ergehen So treib es mich zum Dank dafur;
Last du mich deine Werke sehen, So sey mein Ruhmen stets von dir; Und
find ich in der Welt nicht Ruh, So steig mein Schmen Hinmel zu."

After the service was ended, they wandered out into the public gardens
where birds were singing round the statue of Walter von der Vogelveice,
and a sparrow, to Erica's great delight, perched on his very shoulder.
Then they left the town altogether and roamed out into the open country,
crossing the river by a long and curiously constructed plank bridge,
and sauntering along the valley beneath the snowy mountains, the river
flowing smoothly onward, the birds singing, and a paradise of flowers on
every side. It was quite the hottest day they had had, and they were not
sorry to rest in the first shady place they came to.

"This is the right way to take pleasure," said Raeburn, enjoying as only
an ardent lover of Nature can enjoy a mountain view. "Brief snatches in
between hard work. More than that is hardly admissible in such