orant eyes."

"Very wise eyes, on the contrary! for they know a thing when they see
it."

"But they have seen so little," said Lois, finding it impossible to get
back to a serious demeanour.

"That sole defect in your character, I propose to cure."

"Ah, do not praise me!"

"Why not? I used to rejoice in the remembrance that you were not an
angel but human. Do you know the old lines?--

'A creature _not_ too bright and good
For human nature's daily food;
For transient sorrows, simple wiles,
Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears and smiles.'

Only 'wiles' you never descend to; 'blame' is not to be thought of; if
you forbid praise, what is left to me but the rest of it?"

And truly, what with laughter and some other emotions, tears were not
far from Lois's eyes; and how could the kisses be wanting?

"I never heard you talk so before!" she managed to say.

"I have only begun."

"Please come back to order, and sobriety."

"Sobriety is not in order, as your want of it shows."

"Then come back to Switzerland."

"Ah!--I want you to go up the AEggischhorn, and to stand on the Goerner
Graet, and to cross a pass or two; and I want you to see the flowers."

"Are there so many?"

"More than on a western prairie in spring. Most people travel in
Switzerland later in the season, and so miss the flowers. You must not
miss them."

"What flowers are they?"

"A very great many kinds. I remember the gentians, and the
forget-me-nots; but the profusion is wonderful, and exceedingly rich.
They grow just at the edge of the snow, some of them. Then we will
linger a while at Zermatt and Chamounix, and a mountain _pension_ here
and there, and so slowly work our way over into Italy. It will be too
late for Rome; but we will go, if you like it, to Venice; and then, as
the heats grow greater, get back into the Tyrol."

"O, Mrs. Barclay had beautiful views from the Tyrol; a few, but very
beautiful."

"How do you like my programme?"

"You have not mentioned glaciers."

"Are you' interested in glaciers?"

"_Very_ much."

"You shall see as much of them as you can see safely from terra firma."

"Are they so dangerous?"

"Sometimes."

"But you have crossed them, have you not?"

"Times enough to make me scruple about your doing it."

"I am very sure-footed."

He kissed her hand, and inquired again what she thought of his
programme.

"There is no fault to be found with the programme. But--"

"If