dow of their compartment. They
made sure that they could identify the windows of Miss Madden's suite,
and that the curtains were drawn aside--but there was no other token
of occupancy discernible. They had said good-bye to the two ladies the
previous evening, of course--it lingered in their minds as a rather
perfunctory ceremony--but this had not prevented their hoping for
another farewell glimpse of their friends. No one came to wave a hand
from the balcony, however, and the youngsters looked somewhat dubiously
at each other as the train moved. Then intuitively they glanced toward
their uncle--and perceived that he had his hat pulled over his eyes, and
was staring with a kind of moody scowl at the lake opposite.

"Fortunately, it is a clear day," said Julia. "We shall see Mont Blanc."

Her voice seemed to have a hollow and unnatural sound in her own ears.
Neither her uncle nor her brother answered her.

At breakfast, meanwhile, in the apartment toward which the young people
had turned their farewell gaze in vain, Miss Madden sipped her coffee
thoughtfully while she read a letter spread upon the table beside her.

"It's as they said," she observed. "You are not allowed to drive in the
mountains with your own horses and carriage. That seems rather quaint
for a model Republic--doesn't it?"

"I daresay they're quite right," Lady Cressage replied, listlessly.
"It's in the interest of safety. People who do not know the mountains
would simply go and get killed in avalanches and hurricanes--and all
that. I suppose that is what the Government wishes to prevent."

"And you're on the side of the Government," said the other, with a
twinkle in her brown eyes. "Truly now--you hated the whole idea of
driving over the Simplon."

Lady Cressage lifted her brows in whimsical assent as she nodded.

"But do you like this Russian plan any better?" demanded Celia. "I wish
for once you would be absolutely candid and open with me--and let me
know to the uttermost just what you think." "'For once'?" queried the
other. Her tone was placid enough, but she allowed the significance of
the quotation to be marked.

"Oh, I never wholly know what you're thinking," Miss Madden declared.
She put on a smile to alleviate the force of her remarks. "It is not
you alone--Edith. Don't think that! But it is ingrained in your
country-women. You can't help it. It's in your blood to keep things
back. I've met numbers of English ladies who, I'm ready to