covered his head in dense, bushy curls. His voice was loud, his manner abrupt, and he always sat bolt upright. 66 Any thing up, Sconey ?" asked Lord Hawbury, after a pause, during which he had been languidly gazing at his friend. Dacres put his cigar between his lips again, and gave one or two puffs at it, but it had gone out. He pitched it out of the window, and struck his hand heavily on the arm of his chair. "Yes, Hawbury, a girl; and spooney, too -as spooney as blazes; but I'll swear there "Well, no, nothing, except that I've been isn't such another girl upon the whole face of up Vesuvius." Lord Hawbury gave a long whistle. "And how did you find the mountain ?" he asked; "lively?" "Rather so. In fact, infernally so," added Dacres, thoughtfully. "Look here, Hawbury, do you detect any smell of sulphur about me?" "Sulphur! What in the name of-sulphur! Why, now that you mention it, I do notice something of a brimstone smell. Sulphur? Why, man, you're as strong as a lighted match. What have you been doing with yourself? Down inside, eh ?" Dacres made no answer for some time, but sat stroking his beard with his left hand, while his right held a cigar which he had just taken out of a box at his elbow. His eyes were fixed upon a point in the sky exactly half-way between Capri and Baiæ, and about ten degrees above the horizon. the earth; and when you bear in mind the fact that my observation, with extended view, has surveyed mankind from China to Peru, you'll be able to appreciate the value of my statement." "All right, old man; and now for the adventure." "The adventure? Well, you see, I started for a ride. Had a misty idea of going to Sorrento, and was jogging along among a million pigs or so at Portici, when I overtook a carriage that was going slowly along. There were three ladies in it. The backs of two of them were turned toward me, and I afterward saw that one was old-no doubt the chaperon-and the other was young. But the third lady, Hawbury- Well, it's enough to say that I, who have seen all women in all lands, have never seen any thing like her. She was on the front seat, with her face turned toward me. She was small, a perfect blonde; hair short and "Hawbury," said he, solemnly, after about curling; a round, girlish face; dimpled cheeks, two minutes of portentous silence. "Well, old man?" "I've had an adventure." "An adventure? Well, don't be bashful. Breathe forth the tale in this confiding ear." "You see," said Dacres, "I started off this morning for a ride, and had no more intention of going to Vesuvius than to Jericho." "I should hope not. What business has a fellow like you with Vesuvius?—a fellow that has scaled Cotopaxi, and all that sort of thing. Not you." Dacres put the cigar thoughtfully in his mouth, struck a light, and tried to light it, but couldn't. Then he bit the end off, which he had forgotten to do before. Then he gave three long, solemn, and portentous puffs. Then he took the cigar between his first and second fingers, and stretched his hand out toward Hawbury. "Hawbury, my boy," said he again. "All right." "You remember the time when I got that bullet in Uruguay ?" and little mouth. Her eyes were large and blue; and, as she looked at me, I saw such a bewitching innocence, such plaintive entreaty, such pathetic trust, such helpless, childlikeI'll be hanged if I can find words to express what I want to say. The English language doesn't contain them." "Do it in Latin, then, or else skip the whole description. All the same. I know the whole story by heart. Love's young dream, and all that sort of thing, you know.” "Well," continued Dacres, "there was something so confoundedly bewitching in the little girl's face that I found myself keeping on at a slow pace in the rear of the carriage, and feasting on her looks. Of course I wasn't rude about it or demonstrative." "Oh, of course. No demonstration. It's nothing to ride behind a carriage for several hours, and 'feast' one's self on a pretty girl's looks! But go on, old man." "Oh, I managed it without giving offense. You see, there was such a beastly lot of pigs, peasants, cows, dirty children, lazaroni, and all that sort of thing, that it was simply impossible to go any faster; so you see I was compelled to ride behind. Sometimes, indeed, I fell a good distance back." "And then caught up again to resume the 'feast ?'" "Well-yes." "But I don't see what this has to do with your going to Vesuvius." "It has every thing to do. You see, I started without any fixed purpose, and after I saw this carriage, I kept on insensibly after it." "Oh, I see-yes. By Jove!" "And they drove up as far as they could." "Yes ?" "And I followed. You see, I had nothing else to do and that little girl! Besides, it was the most natural thing in the world for me to be going up; and the fact that I was bent on the same errand as themselves was sufficient to account for my being near the carriage, and would prevent them from supposing that I was following them. So, you see, I followed, and at length they stopped at the Hermitage. I left my horse there, and strolled forward, without going very far away; my only idea was to keep the girl in sight. I had no idea that they would go any further. To ascend the cone seemed quite out of the question. I thought they would rest at the Hermitage, drink some Lachryma Christi, and go back. But to my surprise, as I was walking about, I saw the two young ladies come out and go toward the cone. "I kept out of the way, as you may suppose, and watched them, wondering what idea they had. As they passed I heard the younger one -the child-angel, you know, my girl-teasing the other to make the ascent of the cone, and the other seemed to be quite ready to agree to the proposal. that prevented me from giving them warning. They were rushing straight on into danger, and I had to keep silent. "On reaching the foot of the cone a lot of fellows came up to them, with chairs and straps, and that sort of thing. They employed some of them, and, mounting the chairs, they were carried up, while I walked up by myself at a distance from which I could observe all that was going on. The girls were quite merry, appeared to be enchanted with their ride up the cone, enjoyed the novelty of the sensation, and I heard their lively chatter and their loud peals of ringing laughter, and longed more than ever to be able to speak to them. "Now the little girl that I had first seenthe child-angel, you know—seemed, to my amazement, to be more adventurous than the other. By her face you would suppose her to be as timid as a dove, and yet on this occasion she was the one who proposed the ascent, urged on her companion, and answered all her objections. Of course she could not have really been so plucky as she seemed. For my part, I believe the other one had more real pluck of the two, but it was the child-angel's ignorance that made her so bold. She went up the cone as she would have gone up stairs, and looked at the smoke as she would have looked at a rolling cloud. "At length the bearers stopped, and signified to the girls that they could not go any further. The girls could not speak Italian, or any other language apparently than English, and therefore could not very well make out what the "Now, as far as the mere ascent is concerned, of course you know that is not much. The guides were there with straps, and chairs, and that sort of thing, all ready, so that there was no difficulty about that. The real difficulty was in these girls going off unattended; and I could only account for it by supposing that the chaperon knew nothing whatever about their proposal. No doubt the old lady was tired, and the young ones went out, as she sup-bearers were trying to say, but by their gestures posed, for a stroll; and now, as they proposed, this stroll meant nothing less than an ascent of the cone. After all, there is nothing surprising in the fact that a couple of active and spirited girls should attempt this. From the Hermitage it does not seem to be at all difficult, and they had no idea of the actual nature of the task. "What made it worse, however, was the state of the mountain at this particular time. I don't know whether you have taken the trouble to raise your eyes so high as the top of Vesuvius-" Hawbury languidly shook his head. "Well, I supposed not; but if you had taken the trouble, you would have noticed an ugly cloud which is generally regarded here as omin ous. This morning, you know, there was an unusually large canopy of very dirty smoke overhead. I knew by the look of things that it was not a very pleasant place to go to. But of course they could not be supposed to know any thing of the kind, and their very ignorance made them rash. "Well, I walked along after them, not knowing what might turn up, but determined to keep them in sight. Those beggars with chairs were not to be trusted, and the ladies had gold enough about them to tempt violence. What a reckless old devil of a chaperon she was, to let those young girls go! So I walked on, cursing all the time the conventionalities of civilization they might have known that they were warning them against going any further. One might have supposed that no warning would have been needed, and that one look upward would have been enough. The top of the cone rose for upward of a hundred feet above them, its soil composed of lava blocks and ashes intermingled with sulphur. In this soil there were a million cracks and crevices, from which sulphurous smoke was issuing; and the smoke, which was but faint and thin near where they stood, grew denser farther up, till it intermingled with the larger volumes that rolled up from the crater. "Now, as I stood there, I suddenly heard a wild proposal from the child-angel. "Oh, Ethel,' she said, 'I've a great mind to go up-"" Here Hawbury interrupted his friend : "What's that? Was that her friend's name?" he asked, with some animation. "Ethel ?odd, too. Ethel? H'm. Ethel? Brunette, was she?" "Well, the child-angel said, Ethel, I've a great mind to go up.' "This proposal Ethel scouted in horror and consternation. "You must notyou shall not!' she cried. "Oh, it's nothing, it's nothing,' said the child-angel. 'I'm dying to take a peep into the crater. It must be awfully funny. Do come; do, do come, Ethel darling.' don't,' cried the other, in great alarm. And I now learned that the child-angel's name was Minnie. 'Minnie,' she cried, clinging to the child-angel, 'you must not go. I would not have come up if I had thought you would be so unreasonable.' "Ethel,' said the other, you are really getting to be quite a scold. How ridiculous it is in you to set yourself up in this place as a duenna. How can I help going up? and only one peep. And I never saw a crater in my life, and I'm dying to know what it looks like. I "I SAW HER TURN AND WAVE HER HAND IN TRIUMPH." with his right he drummed on the table near him. know it's awfully funny; and it's horrid in you to be so unkind about it. And I really must go. Won't you come? Do, do, dear--dearest darling, do-do-do!' "Ethel was firm, however, and tried to dissuade the other, but to no purpose, for at length, with a laugh, the child-angel burst away, and skipped lightly up the slope toward the crater. "Just one peep,' she said. 'Come, Ethel, I must, I really must, you know.' "She turned for an instant as she said this, and I saw the glory of her child-face as it was irradiated by a smile of exquisite sweetness. The play of feature, the light of her eyes, and the expression of innocence and ignorance unconscious of danger, filled me with profound sadness. And there was I, standing alone, seeing that sweet child flinging herself to ruin, and yet unable to prevent her, simply because I was bound hand and foot by the infernal restrictions of a miserable and a senseless conventionality. Dash it, I say!" "Well," resumed Dacres, "the child-angel ran up for some distance, leaving Ethel behind. Ethel called after her for some time, and then began to follow her up. Meanwhile the guides, who had thus far stood apart, suddenly caught sight of the child-angel's figure, and, with a loud warning cry, they ran after her. They seemed to me, however, to be a lazy lot, for they scarce got up as far as the place where Ethel was. Now, you know, all this time I was doomed to inaction. But at this juncture I strolled carelessly along, pretending not to see any thing in particular; and so, taking up an easy attitude, I waited for the dénouement. It was a terrible position too. That child-angel! I would have laid down my life for her, but I had to stand idle, and see her rush to fling her life away. And all because I had not happened to have the mere formality of an introduction. As Dacres growled out this Hawbury eleva- "Well, you know, I stood there waiting for ted his eyebrows, and stroked his long, pend- the dénouement. Now it happened that, as ent whiskers lazily with his left hand, while the child-angel went up, a brisk breeze had "I don't see how you managed to be so confoundedly accurate in your reckoning. How was it? You didn't carry your watch in one hand, and feel about with the other, I suppose ?" started, which blew away all the smoke, so that | So another half minute passed; and now only she went along for some distance without any one minute was left." apparent inconvenience. I saw her reach the top; I saw her turn and wave her hand in triumph. Then I saw her rush forward quickly and nimbly straight toward the crater. She seemed to go down into it. And then the wind changed or died away, or both, for there came a vast cloud of rolling smoke, black, cruel, suffocating; and the mountain crest and the childangel were snatched from my sight. 666 "No; but I looked at my watch at intervals. But never mind that. Four minutes, as I said, were up, and only one minute remained, and that was not enough to take me back. I was at the last gasp already, and on the verge of despair, when suddenly, as I crawled on, there lay the child-angel full before me, within my reach. "Yes," continued Dacres, after a pause, "there she lay, just in my grasp, just at my own last gasp. One second more and it must have been all up. She was senseless, of course. I caught her up; I rose and ran back as quick ''Oh, Sir,' she cried, 'save her! Oh, my as I could, bearing my precious burden. She God, she's lost!' was as light as a feather-no weight at all. I carried her as tenderly as if she was a little baby. As I emerged from the smoke Ethel rushed up to me and set up a cry, but I told her to keep quiet and it would be all right. Then I directed the guides to carry her down, and I myself then carried down the child-angel. "This was very informal, you know, and all that sort of thing; but she had broken the ice, and had accosted me; so I waived all ceremony, and considered the introduction sufficient. I took off my hat, and told her to calm herself. "But she only wrung her hands, and implored me to save her friend. "And now, my boy, lucky was it for me that my experience at Cotopaxi and Popocatepetl had been so thorough and so peculiar. My knowledge came into play at this time. I took my felt hat and put it over my mouth, and then tied it around my neck so that the felt rim came over my cheeks and throat. Thus I secured a plentiful supply of air, and the felt acted as a kind of ventilator to prevent the access to my lungs of too much of the sulphurous vapor. Of course such a contrivance would not be good for more than five minutes; but then, you know, five minutes were all that I wanted. I "So up I rushed, and, as the slope was only about a hundred feet, I soon reached the top. Here I could see nothing whatever. The tremendous smoke-clouds rolled all about on every side, enveloping me in their dense folds, and shutting every thing from view. I heard the cry of the asses of guides, who were howling where I left them below, and were crying to me to come back-the infernal idiots! The smoke was impenetrable; so I got down on my hands and knees and groped about. I was on her track, and knew she could not be far away. could not spend more than five minutes there, for my felt hat would not assist me any longer. About two minutes had already passed. other minute was taken up in creeping about on my hands and knees. A half minute more followed. I was in despair. The child-angel I saw must have run in much further than I had supposed, and perhaps I could not find her at all. A sickening fear came to me that she had grown dizzy, or had slid down over the loose sand into the terrific abyss of the crater itself. An "You see I wasn't going to give her up. I had had hard work enough getting her. Besides, the atmosphere up there was horrible. It was necessary, first of all, to get her down to the foot of the cone, where she could have pure air, and then resuscitate her. Therefore I directed the guides to take down Ethel in a chair, while I carried down the child-angel. They had to carry her down over the lava blocks, but I went to a part of the cone where it was all loose sand, and went down flying. I was at the bottom a full half hour before the others. "Then I laid her upon the loose sand; and I swear to you, Hawbury, never in all my life have I seen such a sight. She lay there before my eyes a picture of loveliness beyond imagination-as beautiful as a dream-more like a child-angel than ever. Her hair clustered in golden curls over her white brow, her little hands were folded meekly over her breast, her lips were parted into a sweet smile, the gentle eyes no longer looked at me with the piteous, pleading, trustful, innocent expression which I had noticed in them before, and her hearing was deaf to the words of love and tenderness that I lavished upon her." "Good!" muttered Hawbury; "you talk like a novel. Drive on, old man. I'm really beginning to feel excited." "The fact is," said Dacres, "I have a certain set of expressions about the child-angel that will come whenever I begin to describe her." "It strikes me, though, that you are getting on pretty well. You were speaking of 'love and tenderness.' Well?" "Well, she lay there senseless, you know, and I gently unclasped her hands and began to "Yes,' said I, gently, for I thought it was and didn't say another word till she heard the best to humor her delirious fancy. "Yes, darling,' said I, in a low voice; and I kissed her in a kind of paternal way, so as to reassure her, and comfort her, and soothe her, and all that sort of thing, you know." voice of Ethel at a distance. Then she opened her eyes, and got up on her feet. Then there was no end of a row-kissing, crying, congratulating, reproaching, and all that sort of thing. I withdrew to a respectful distance and waited. After a time they both came to me, and the child-angel gave me a look that made me long At this Hawbury burst into a shout of laugh- to be a father to her again. She held out her ter. "What the mischief are you making that beastly row about?" growled Dacres. "Excuse me, old boy. I couldn't help it. It was at the idea of your doing the father so gravely." 'Well, am I not old enough to be her father? What else could I do? She had such a plead little hand, and I took it and pressed it, with my heart beating awfully. I was horribly embarrassed. "I'm awfully grateful to you,' she said; 'I'm sure I'd do any thing in the world to repay you. I'm sure I don't know what would have become of me if it hadn't been for you. And I hope you'll excuse me for putting you to so much |