d choked with
thirst, for two or three days; but she never uttered one single
murmur."

"I should think not," said Katie. "What had she to complain of? What
more could she want? Why, it was utterly lovely! I'm sure I shouldn't
care to eat one single bit if I were in such a situation. I could not
be hungry at such times--I never am. Hungry, indeed!"

The idea was too absurd, so Katie dismissed it with scorn.

"I could see," continued Harry, "that she was suffering. Her face
grew paler and paler. She was evidently growing weaker. She looked at
me piteously--"

"Oh, you will be so prosaic!" interrupted Katie. "Can't you see that
it wasn't hunger at all? It's the old, old story:

"'Then her cheek was pale, and thinner
Than should be for one so young,
And her eyes on all my motions
With a mute observance hung.'

"And I said," continued Katie--

"'And I said, my dearest Pard'ner,
Speak, and speak the truth to me;
Trust me, Pard'ner; all the current
Of my being turns to thee.'

"The fact is," she added, abruptly, "I believe you're making up
nearly the whole of this!"

"Making it up!" cried Harry. "Me! Why?"

"Why, because such delightful situations never do occur in real life.
It's only in fiction."

"No, really, now--it was really so," said Harry. "Why should I make
this up? Really, on my honor--"

"Well, you're coloring the facts, at least," said Katie. "If it's all
true, I think it's hard on poor people like me, that never can find
any pleasant excitement to break the monotony of life. But never
mind--please go on."

"Well," continued Harry, "we drifted on for several days. We saw
vessels, but they were too far away to see us. At last we came in
sight of land, and there we were picked up by a boat that took us to
Leghorn. I then went on with Miss Talbot to Rome. I learned that we
were the only ones that had been saved out of the ill-fated steamer.
Miss Talbot's father, who, as I said, was an invalid, had heard the
news, and, thinking his daughter lost, sank under the blow. On our
arrival at Rome he was dead. It was a mournful end to our journey.

"He was buried in Rome. Miss Talbot returned to England with an
English family, with whom her father had been acquainted. I did not
intrude on her just then, but paid her a visit afterward. At that
time we came to an understanding, and then I went back to Barcelona.
And now I come to the real point of my story--the thing tha