ley said, rousing himself. "Yes, there are
cathedrals which beat Milan when seen in broad daylight, but in the
moonlight there is no building in the world to compare with it, unless
it be the Taj Mahal at Agra. Of course they differ wholly and entirely
in style, and no comparison can be made between them; the only
resemblance is that both are built of white marble; but of the two, I
own that I prefer the Taj."

"I am afraid I shall never see that," Alice Hardy said, "but I am quite
content with Milan; I could stop here for a month."

"A month, my dear!" Captain Bayley exclaimed, in consternation, "three
days will be ample. You know we agreed to stop here till Friday, and
then to go on to Como."

"Well, perhaps we will let you go on Friday, but we shall have to dawdle
about the lakes for some time. We can't rush through them as we have
been rushing through all these grand old Italian towns. We must have a
long rest there, you know."

"Yes, I suppose so," the old officer said reluctantly; "but I like to be
on the move."

Captain Bayley had, indeed, somewhat tried his two young companions by
his eagerness to be ever on the move. They had now been nearly two years
absent from England; they had visited all the principal towns of Germany
and Austria, had gone down the Danube and stopped at Constantinople, had
spent a fortnight in the Holy Land, and had then gone to Egypt and
ascended the Nile as far as the First Cataract, then they had taken a
steamer to Naples, and thence made their way up through Italy to Milan,
and now were about to cross over into Switzerland, and were, after
spending a month there, to go on to Paris, and thence home.

The highest surgical advice, and the most skilful appliances, aided by
the benefit he had derived from the German baths, had done much for
Harry, and he had for months passed many hours a day in the hands of a
skilful shampooer, who travelled with him as valet. He had, to a great
extent, recovered the use of his legs, and now walked with the
assistance of two sticks, and there was every hope that in time he would
be able to dispense with these aids, although he would always walk
somewhat stiffly. Captain Bayley was delighted at this improvement in
his grandson, and would have been perfectly happy had it not been for
the continual worry caused him by the failure of his advertisements to
elicit any news whatever of Frank.

It was this uncertainty that caused his restlessness, and he w