Part 32 (2/2)

It was not to be expected that our tourists who had come through every variety of scenery, grand, sublime and beautiful, should be very enthusiastic now. But the Italian knew that he had something very fine to show. Just as an old picture dealer knows when he has a good picture and a good audience. The girls fairly danced on the gra.s.sy terrace overlooking the exquisite little valley at the foot of the mountain. And there, on the lawn, stood a table covered with a white cloth.

”The ladies willa eat breakfast at what time?” asked Pasquale. ”The festa, she commenca at two. You willa come-not so?”

”Oh, yes, we will see all of it, Pasquale,” replied Evelyn.

Pasquale lingered.

”The ladies willa pardon. They have no objec to two others who also eta here?”

But the ladies were not in the humor to object to anything. They were too much engaged in admiring the little valley and the olive grove opposite which clung to the hillside like a soft gray mist.

”It's just like a little Italy,” cried Billie, enthusiastically. ”It looks like Italy. The people are all Italians and so are the houses and the terraced vineyards. Isn't it sweet?”

”Wait until you see the festa,” said Evelyn, ”and Pasquale's daughter, Lucia. She is out now gathering grapes with the others, I suppose.”

Pasquale now appeared bearing a big soup tureen, followed by a graceful young Italian boy who carried a dish of grated cheese. There were plates of ripe olives on the table and in the centre a pyramid of fresh figs and grapes. How charming it all was! Down in the vineyard below came the sound of singing, which grew louder as the young men and girls climbed the mountain to the village.

They were very happy and jolly, and Miss Campbell made a little speech.

”Sweet, lovely girls,” she said, ”do you know how very dear you are to me? We have been through so much together, through so many, dangers which we will forget, and pleasures which we shall always remember; up hill and down dale-across mountains-”

”And prairies,” suggested Nancy.

”Yes, across these interminable prairies, that I feel, now that we are coming to the end of it all, how lonesome I am going to be without you.

I hope you will all marry, my dears. There is no one in the world so lonely as a spinster-”

Evelyn's face flushed. The subject of marriage was a painful one to her, because, although she had written twice to Daniel, not one word had she received from him since she left Salt Lake City. And deep in her heart, she was wholly and utterly miserable. No one but Billie noticed the tears that glistened in her eyes, and under the table, the two girls clasped hands for a moment.

”-a spinster past middle age,” went on Miss Campbell, looking so charming and appealing that the girls were obliged to rush from their seats and embrace her.

And in the midst of this scene of affection, comes Pasquale, smiling affably, and bearing an immense bouquet of roses.

”For La Signora Cam-el,” he said. ”A gen-man presents with compliments.”

”But who-what gentleman?” demanded Miss Campbell.

”I cannot say, Signora. They are of Sacremen'-these roses here. They came thisa morning by express, in the diligenza from the valley.”

”Where is the gentleman?” asked Billie.

Pasquale shrugged his shoulders almost to his ears and spread his hands out apologetically. Then he disappeared into the inn and presently returned with bouquets for each of the girls. Evelyn's was as large as Miss Campbell's, of roses, and the younger girls were smaller bunches of heliotrope, which gave out a delicious fragrance.

”Is he here at this inn?” demanded Nancy, burning with curiosity.

”No, signorina, the gentleman, he coma after the flowers.”

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