, 1884-07-09

aud"
avon woul not Ike to live ia England
he - l asked 0That a fool 1 was, to Le
Iure.l
@oh, ma fol, no. That would max
one too niue shiver, with your chills, anil
YOU fogs, and your W nterA l could not
stand it 1t is cod here, but at
any rate 1t Is sunny. . " Well. at
ieas'. it would not be pleasant "
But, after all, that depends. = You
have the sun, too, sometimes, lon't your
a aline!T cried madam from the window.
Al want you to come ana help me pick ovsr
the COOS bcrries!H And, to say the truth, ]
thought it was quite time she SHOULD go.
IL.
A week la.or l ms NJ. Clau la. He
was a very IL CO young fellow; there was not
a ooub of that. He was intelligent, well
educated, manly, with all the honest, sturdy,
iLCepend,nt Swiss nature clearly visible in
his frank, bright open face. / nave seldom
met a man whom l l.ked better at first sight
than II. Claude, and after he Ind gone away
/ felt more thau a little ashamed of myself to
think that / had been half trying to steal
away lsaline's heart from this good fellow,
without really having any deliberate design
III on it myself. 1t began to strike me that l
had beeu doing a very dirty, shabby thing.
"Cuarlie, my boy" 1 said to myself, as
sat fishing with bottom bait auI dangling my
legs over the edge of the poOl, you've been
flirting W III tbs pretty little Swiss girl;
and " hats worse, you've been flirting in a
bad SORT OF way. She's got a lover
Of her own; and you've been trying
to make her feel dissatisfied with him
for no earthly reason. You've taken adj
vantage OF your position and your fancied
Londou airs and graces to run down by i'm
pIication a good fellow, who really loves her
aud would probably make her an excellent
husband. Don't let this occur again, sir.'
And having thus virtuuusly resolved, OF
course ! went away and firted with Isaline
next morning as vigorously as ever.
During tn. following fortnight NJ. Clau 'e
came often, and | could not disguise from
myself the fact that NJ. Claude did not quite
like me. This was odd, for liked him very
much. l suppose he took me for a potential
rival; men are so jealous whom they are in
love. Besides, 1 observed that Isaline tried
not to be thrown too much with him alone;
tried to include me in the party whenever
she went W. til him. Also, l will freely con-
less that l felt myself every day more fond
OF Isal mes society, anil half fancied l eau sht
myself trepidating a little inwardly now and
then when she hap 2sneI to come up to me
Absurd to be so susceptible, but such is man.
One lovely day alb Ju5 this time 1 sst out
once more to try my haul for rather my fee}
alone upon the Aiguille. Isaline put me up
a nice little light lunch in my knapsack, and
insisted upon seeing that my alpenstock was
firmly shod, and my PEDESTRIAN boots in due
climbing order. In fact, shs lou1ly lamsntei
my perversity in ate npdng to maks the
asceIt without a guido; aud she must eyln
needs walk with me as far as the little bridge
over the tore 1t beside the snow lide, to point
me out the roal the guides generally took to
the platform at the su nmit. For myse (, l
was a practiced mouutaineer, and felt no fear
Tor the result As l left her for the ice, she
stood a long time looking a ~ wavins me the
right road with her little pocket-handker-
chief; while as long as I could near her voice
she kept on exhorting me to bs very careful.
"Ah, if monsieur would olly lave tax IN a
gui iel You don't know how dangerous that
little Aiguille really is"
The sun was shining brightly on the snow,
the view across the valley Of the Rhone
toward the snowy Alps beyond was exquisite,
and The giants of the Bernese Overland stood
out in gloriously brilliant out. Inc on the other
side against the clear blue summer sky. l
went ON alone, erjoyin myself hugely inmy
own quiet iash on, and watching Isaline as
she made her way slowly along the green
path, looking around often and again until
size disappeared in tbs shadow of the pine
WYNN thhb 81 uiOuuA no NAhN NlidSo- ShV
furth.r still, up, and up and up, over soft
snow for the most arr, with very little ice,
till at last, after three hours lard climbing,
/ stood on the very summit of the pretty
Aiguile. 1t was not very high, but it COM
manded a magnificent view ON either side
the Alps on one hand, the counterchain of
the O5erlaud on the other. and the blue lake
cleaning and glowing through all It's length
IN its green valley between them. There l
sat down on the pure snow in the gilt
tering sunlight, and ate the lunch that
ISaline had provided for me with much gusto.
Unfortunately, l also drank the pint of
white wine from the head of the lake
Yvorne, we call it, and l grow it now in my
own vineyard at Pic de la Baume-but that
is antic. pating again; as good a light wine
as you will get anyw here in Europe in these
depressing days of blight and phyiloxera.
Now, a pint OF vim du ways is not too much
under ordinary circumstances for a strong
young man in vigorous health, doing a hard
days muscular work with legs, arms and
sinews; but air is thin and exhiL
arating in itself, and It lends q point to n
half-bottle Yvorne which the wines own
body Toes not by any means possess. Idon't
mean to say 30 much light wine does any one
positive harm; bat it makes one more care
less and easy-going; gives one a false sense of
security, and entices one into paying less
heel to ones footsteps or to susp.cious-look-
ing bits OF doubtful ice.
Well, after lunch / took a good look at the
view with my t~eld-glass, and when l turned
it toward Les Pentes l could make out our
farm house distinctly, and even saw Isaline
standing on the balcony looking toward the
Aigu lie. My heart jumped "A little when |
thought that she was probably look n at me.
Then l wound my way down again, not by
retracing my steps, but by trying a new
path, which seemed to me a more practicable
one. 1t was not the one lsaline pointed out,
hut it appeared to SO more directly, and to
avoii enc or two of the very worst rough
and-tumble pieces.
l was making my way back, merrily
enough, when suddenly l happened to step Oh
a little bit of loose ice, which slid beneath my
feet in a very uncomfortable manner. Be-
fore l knew where / was / felt myself sliding
rapidly on, with the ice clinging TO my heel,
and white l was vainly trying to dig my
alpenstuck into q firm snow-bank, l became
conscious for a moment Of a sort of dim, in.
definite blank. 1t was ollowed by a senSa.
ton Of empty space, and then l knew l wai
falling over the edge Of something.
Nhrrr, whrrr, whrrr went the air at my
ear for a moment, and the next thing / knew
was a jar of ain, and n consciousness of DO
ing enveloped in something Ne. soft. Thu
jar took away all other feeling fol a few sec.
onds; ! only knew / was stunned nd badly
hurt. After u time ! began to be capable OF
trying to realize the position, and when i
opened my eyes and lookel around INC I
recognized that 1 was lying on my back, and
that there was a peryadipg sensation OF
whiteness everywhere about In point Of
fact l was buried in snow. 1 tried to move
aud get on my legs again, but two things
very e~ffectually prevented me. In the first
place | could not stir my legs without giving
myself the most intense pain in my spine;
and in the second place, when l did stir them