turn to the
carriage; that indeed, she need not have left it. Her extra weight
would be but as that of a feather to the horses, which were used to
carrying far heavier loads than that of to-day, up the steep mountain
road to Alleheiligen in the "high" season of July and August, when
many tourists from all countries came to rest for a night and see the
wonderful view. He even grew voluble in his persuasions, but the girl
still smilingly insisted that she liked walking, and the brown-faced
fellow with the soft green hat and curly cock feather admired her the
more for her firmness and endurance.

She was plainly dressed in gray, which did not show the dust, and
though her skirt and short jacket were well made, and her neat little
hat jaunty and becoming--almost dangerously becoming--she was not
half as grand in appearance as some of the ladies who drove up with
him in July and August. Still, the man said to himself, there was an
air about her--no, he could not describe it even to himself--but it
meant distinction. And then, as she was English, it was as pleasing as
it was remarkable that she could speak Rhaetian so prettily. She had
learned it, she said when he respectfully ventured a question,
because, since she was a child, she had taken an interest in Rhaetian
history and literature. And this seemed strange to him, that so dainty
a lady should have learned such a language for pleasure, because the
people of most countries found it excessively difficult--as difficult
as Hungarian and just enough like German to make it even more
difficult, perhaps. But this English girl said she had picked it up
easily; and the young man's heart warmed to her when she praised
Rhaetian music and Rhaetian poetry.

This was the last touch; this won him wholly; and without stopping
further to analyze or account for his admiration, the driver of the
first carriage found himself bestowing confidences upon his gracious
companion as they slowly tramped up the winding road, the reins looped
over his arm.

He told her of his life; how he had not always lived down there in the
valley and driven tourists for a living. Before he fell in love and
married a valley girl, and had a young family to rear, his house had
been aloft, in Alleheiligen. He was born on the mountain side; his
mother still lived in the village. It was she who kept the inn. Ach,
but a good woman, and a cook to the king's taste--or rather, the
Emperor's taste--if it was her own so