"Won't you tell it to me?" he asked.

"No," she answered; "I keep my great ideas for myself, and work them out
in secret. And this one is particularly amusing. What fun I shall have!"

"But why keep the fun to yourself?" he said. "We all want to be amused
here; we all want to be stirred up; a little fun would be a charity."

"Very well, since you wish it, you shall be stirred up," she answered;
"but you must give me time to work out my great idea. I do not hurry
about things, not even about my professional duties; for I have a
strong feeling that it is vulgar to be always amassing riches! As I have
neither a husband nor a brother to support, I have chosen less wealth,
and more leisure to enjoy all the loveliness of life! So you see I take
my time about everything. And to-morrow I shall catch butterflies at my
leisure, and lie among the dear old pines, and work at my great idea."

"I shall catch butterflies," said her companion; "and I too shall lie
among the dear old pines."

"Just as you please," she said; and at that moment the _table d'hote_
bell rang.

The little girl hastened to the bureau, and spoke rapidly in German to
the cashier.

"_Ach, Fraulein_!" he said. "You are not really serious?"

"Yes, I am," she said. "I don't want them to know my name. It will only
worry me. Say I am the young lady who tuned the piano."

She had scarcely given these directions and mounted to her room when
Oswald Everard, who was much interested in his mysterious companion,
came to the bureau, and asked for the name of the little lady.

"_Es ist das Fraulein welches das Piano gestimmt hat_," answered the
man, returning with unusual quickness to his account-book.

No one spoke to the little girl at _table d'hote_, but for all that she
enjoyed her dinner, and gave her serious attention to all the courses.
Being thus solidly occupied, she had not much leisure to bestow on the
conversation of the other guests. Nor was it specially original; it
treated of the short-comings of the chef, the tastelessness of the
soup, the toughness of the beef, and all the many failings which go
to complete a mountain hotel dinner. But suddenly, so it seemed to the
little girl, this time-honoured talk passed into another phase; she
heard the word "music" mentioned, and she became at once interested to
learn what these people had to say on a subject which was dearer to her
than any other.

"For my own part," said a stern-looking old man, "I ha