have been reading two or three of George Sand's novels. Do you know La Dernière Aldini? I fancy a romance in every palace."
"The reality of Venice seems to me to exceed all romance. It's romance enough simply to be here."
"Yes; but how brief and transient a romance!"
"Well," said I, "we shall certainly cease to be here, but we shall never cease to have been here. You are not to leave directly, I hope."
"In the course of ten days or a fortnight we go to Florence."
"And then to Rome?"
"To Rome and Naples, and then by sea, probably, to Genoa, and thence to Nice and Paris. We must be at home by the new year. And you?"
"I hope to spend the winter in Italy."
"Are you never coming home again?"
"By no means. I shall probably return in the spring. But I wish you, too, were going to remain."
"You are very good. My father pronounces it impossible. I have only to make the most of it while I'm here."
"Are you going back to Araminta?"
Miss Evans was silent a moment. "O, don't ask!" she said.
"What kind of a place is Araminta?" I asked, maliciously. Again she was silent. "That is John the Baptist on the cover of the basin," she said, at last, rising to her feet, with a light laugh.
On emerging from the Baptistery we found Mr. Evans, who greeted me cordially and insisted on my coming to dine with them. I think most fondly of our little dinner. We went to the Caffé Quadri and occupied a table beside an open window, looking out into the Piazza, which was beginning to fill with evening loungers and listeners to the great band of music in the centre. Miss Evans took off her hat and sat facing me in friendly silence. Her father sustained the larger burden of conversation. He seemed to feel its weight, however, as the dinner proceeded and when he had attacked his second bottle of wine. Miss Evans
