.

"Anyhow, I've heard mamma say countless times that Saratoga was a
wonderfully good place for livers; now why can't we go there? Mamma
always said that Saratoga was simply delightful--horse-racing going on
all the time, and lovely drives, and rowing on the lake, and dancing all
night long, and all sorts of lovely things. Let's go to Saratoga, Uncle
Hutchinson! Mamma said that the food there was delicious--and you know
you always are grumbling about the food those sulphur people give you.

"But what really would be best of all for you, Uncle Hutchinson," Miss
Lee continued, with increasing animation, "is Carlsbad. Yes, that's what
you really want--and while you are drinking the horrid waters I can be
having a nice time, you know. Then, when you have finished your course,
we can take a run into Switzerland; and after that, in the autumn,
we might go over to Vienna--you will be delighted with the Vienna
restaurants, and they do have such good white wines there. And then,
from Vienna, we really can go on and have a winter in Russia. Just
think how perfectly delightful it will be to drive about in sledges, all
wrapped up in furs"--Mr. Port shuddered; he detested cold weather--"and
to go to the court balls, and even, perhaps, to be present the next time
they assassinate the Czar! Oh, what a good time we are going to have! Do
write at once, this very day, Uncle Hutchinson, to Carlsbad and engage
our rooms."

To a person of Mr. Port's staid, deliberate temperament this rapid
outlining of a year of foreign travel, and this prompt assumption that
the outline was to be immediately filled in and made a reality, was
upsetting. His mental processes were of the Philadelphia sort, and when
Miss Lee had completed the sketch of her European project he still was
engaged in consideration of her argument in favor of throwing over the
White Sulphur for Saratoga. However, he had comprehended enough of her
larger plan to perceive that by accepting Saratoga promptly he might be
spared the necessity of combating a far more serious assault upon his
peace of mind and digestion. Travel of any sort was loathsome to Mr.
Port, for it involved much hasty and inconsiderate eating.

"Very well," he said, but not cheerfully, for this was the first time
in a great many years that he had not made and acted upon plans
shaped wholly in his own interest, "we will try Saratoga, since you so
especially desire it; but if the waters affect my liver unfavorabl