“P.S. Nine o’clock, evening. Came down to dinner looking exceedingly pretty, and dressed to perfection. All spite and malice, I’m certain. Asked me to take her out to sail to- morrow. We are to go off on an exploring expedition to an island--‘que sais je?’ “The old Grainger looks on me with aunt-like eyes. She has seen a bracelet of carbuncles in dull gold, the like of which Loyd could not give her were he to sell justice for twenty years to come. I have hinted that I mean them for my mother-in-law whenever I marry, and she understands that the parentage admits of a representative. All this is very ignoble on my part; but if I knew of anything meaner that would ensure me success, I’d do it also. “What a stunning vendetta on this girl, if she were at last to consent, to find out whom she had married, and _what_. Think of the winter nights’ tales, of the charges that hang over me, and their penalties. Imagine the Hue and Cry as light reading for the honeymoon!” He added one line on the envelope, to say he would write again on the morrow; but his promise he did not keep. CHAPTER XXIII. A STORM. THE boat excursion mentioned in Calvert’s letter was not the only pleasure-project of that day. It was settled that Mr. Stockwell should come out and give Milly a lesson in photography, in which, under Loyd’s former guidance, she had already made some progress. He was also to give Miss Grainger some flower-seeds of a very rare kind, of which he was carrying a store to the Pasha of Egypt, and which required some peculiar skill in the sowing. They were to dine, too, at a little rustic house beside the lake; and, in fact, the day was to be one of festivity and enjoyment. The morning broke splendidly; and though a few clouds lingered about the Alpine valleys, the sky over the lake was cloudless, and the water was streaked and marbled with those parti-coloured lines which Italian lakes wear in the hot days of midsummer. It was one of those autumnal mornings in which the mellow colouring of the mature season blends with the soft air and gentle breath of spring, and all the features of landscape are displayed in their fullest beauty. Calvert and Florence were to visit the Isola de San Giulio, and bring back great clusters of the flowers of the “San Guiseppe” trees, to deck the dinner-table. They were also to go on as far as Pella for ice or snow to cool their wine, the voyage being, as Calvert said, a blending of the picturesque with the profitable. Before breakfast was over the sky grew slightly, overcast, and a large mass of dark cloud stood motionless Over the summit of Monterone. “What will the weather do, Carlo?” asked Calvert of the old boatman of the villa, as he came to say that all was in readiness.