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Mr. Verney went to the outer room, and sat down near the folding-doors. Rosamond's attention was instantly disengaged from her book, and she said to him banteringly, 'You and Myra have been talking secrets so loudly, that you have disturbed poor mamma.'

'Yes, it was very wrong of us; I am extremely sorry.'

'I should like to guess what the secrets were,' continued Rosamond.

'Should you?' and he smiled; but the smile had no heart in it, and Rosamond could get nothing more from him till coffee was brought up, and the rest of the party reappeared, then he joined in the conversation about the journey, and seemed himself again.

'My father and I have been looking at maps,' said Godfrey, 'and have settled everything admirably.' 'Taking in Paris of course?' said Rosamond.

'Just not taking it in. It will be too much for my mother now; and you can spend a day or two there on your return if you like it. Besides, Rosamond, you have been to Paris.'

'Precisely the reason why I want to go there again. And there is Myra who has never seen it.'

'Don't think about me,' said Myra, who was making tea at a distant table, 'I shall like anything; and in fact there is no one to be thought about but mamma.'

A consideration which at once simplifies the question,' observed Mr. Cameron. We will have no discussions, Rosamond; Paris is set aside.'

Rosamond did not look sulky or frown, but she went back to her novel.

'Then where are you going?' enquired Mr. Verney.

'To the Salzkammergut, replied Godfrey. You know it of course. The finest part of the Austrian Tyrol. Ischl is a charming place for head-quarters.' 'Is it? I was never there.'

Godfrey's countenance brightened immediately. 'Indeed! But of course you don't know Europe thoroughly. A splendid country it is. The Dachstein is magnificent. We were seven hours in reaching the highest peak. Left at four in the morning, and were back at Gosau by eight.'

'But poor mamma can't ascend the Dachstein,' said Myra.

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She can enjoy the You will find the

Godfrey smiled sarcastically. scenery though, and she will. change work wonders for her, and it is quite within reach now. The railway is open nearly to Salzburg, so the journey is very simple. I don't think there is a doubt about the route we marked out being the best?' he added, turning to his father.

'Not if we decide upon going to Ischl,' said Mr. Cameron; 'but I should prefer consulting your mother's wishes.'

'If you will take my advice, Sir,' said Godfrey, you won't think of consulting her. An invalid's fancies are endless. Just tell her where she is going and she will bring her mind to it. There is not a greater mistake made than that of asking opinions unnecessarily.'

'Perfectly true in many cases,' replied Mr. Cameron, 'not in all.'

Discussions do worry mamma,' said Myra. 'She told me so yesterday.'

'Myra is bewitched with the idea of the scenery,' observed Rosamond, looking up from her book. 'She forgets how dull mamma will be in that out-ofthe-way part of the world.'

The colour rushed to Myra's cheeks. 'I hope I don't think of myself, Rosamond,' she began, hastily; but she caught Mr. Verney's eye, and added in a different tone, 'Dr. Richardson recommended moving about.'

'In civilised places,' said Rosamond; 'not with the risk of wretched hotels and rough roads.'

'There is a capital hotel at Ischl,' said Godfrey. 'And what medical advice?' suggested Mr. Verney.

That was a serious consideration; and for the time it put an end to the conversation as regarded Mrs. Cameron. But Godfrey was not willing to let his acquaintance with the Salzkammergut prove so utterly useless.

'You should go to Hallstadt,' he continued, addressing Mr. Verney. The salt mines are wonderful immensely interesting to a geologist. You are a geologist of course?'

'By no means of course,' was the reply. 'Are you one?'

'I don't profess to be so; one never likes to profess in these days; but I do just know the rudiments - what everyone knows. I found some

curious fossils at Hallstadt, and studied them a little, and when I came home I sketched out a theory which I put into the form of a pamphlet, and the Geological Society took it up, and made a laudatory fuss about it. But it was a mere outline - a suggestion nothing to what I could have done if I had given myself to the subject. You know one can't do everything, and my time was really given to sketching. I should like to show you a little view of the Hallstadt Lake. Myra, I think I gave it to you?'

'No,' said Myra, 'it was to Rosamond. I have seen it in her portfolio since we came to London.'

Myra went to fetch the portfolio from the inner room, and brought back another with it. 'Oh! Mr. Verney,' she said, 'this is yours. You left it the day before yesterday when you were showing mamma those views of Como.'

'I want to see Como,' said Mr. Cameron. 'I have an idea that, after all, the north of Italy may be better than anything else.'

'There are sketches of all kinds, taken by a friend of mine,' said Mr. Verney. We were a month or rather longer in the neighbourhood.'

He unfastened the portfolio and Mr. Cameron looked at the sketches. He was pompous in his approval, but not personally conceited, and Mr. Verney evidently turned to him as a relief after Godfrey.

'This is not Italian, is it?' said Mr. Cameron, taking up a drawing with the view of a bridge, a river, and a snow-mountain in the distance. He

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examined it closely. Very pretty, but a different style from the rest, - not so decided.'

'Yes, it is different,' said Mr. Verney, carelessly. 'It must be by a pupil of Mr. Brownlow's,' observed Godfrey, laughing; 'I know that colouring so well.'

'Oh! that is Rosamond's,' exclaimed Myra, who happened to draw near the table at that moment. 'Rosamond's!' repeated Mr. Cameron. His tone was chilling.

'It is Annette's,' said Rosamond, quietly. “Mr. Verney took a fancy to it at Yare, and so it was given him. That is why it resembles Mr. Brownlow's style. Myra, you recollect, it was Annette's prize drawing.'

Yes, Myra recollected that fact well enough; but she felt very uncomfortable; almost as if she was sanctioning a falsehood. She murmured an answer which was not very intelligible.

'It is remarkably good,' said Mr. Cameron.

An

nette should have had it framed if I had seen it. Not that I grudge it you,' he added, addressing Mr. Verney, with a stiff courtesy of manner. 'No doubt Annette was only too proud to give it to you.'

'I could not part with it at any rate,' said Mr. Verney; but he turned it over quickly, and then shut up the portfolio.

Annette just then came in from the inner room, where she had been listening to a conversation carried on between her mother and Henrietta Verney upon school education. Mr. Cameron was going to speak to her about the drawing, but he lost the opportunity,

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