She listened to the strange noises in the air and watched the steam which, mounting high, would make one believe that the locality was alive with factories. The girl’s curious gaze roamed about, and she thought wistfully of such travelers as might visit at their leisure the wonders about her. There were great beauties, however, even for a heaver to enjoy. The morning’s ride had been a keen pleasure in the intervals of her embarrassment. The profusion of wild flowers; monk’s-hood, hare-bells, and Indian paintbrush, had fed her eyes with their splashes of color; and the behavior of the wild animals made one think of the millennium. Sure of protection from being hunted and slain, the chipmunks sat up on their hind legs close to the road, to watch the stage go by, clasping their tiny hands beneath their chins, like children in ecstasy at seeing a pretty show. Frequently one would be seen sitting up and nibbling the seeds from a long stem of grass, which he held in such a manner that he appeared to be playing a flute. A big marmot here and there lay along a bough or rock, turning his head lazily to view the tourists through his Eden. Boiling springs and boiling rivers, hill, vale, mountain, and waterfall—all these had Rosalie enjoyed, even with the fear that the Bruces would turn around; and now! Think of making one stage of the picturesque journey with no companion but her own thoughts! It seemed too good to be true; and she soon found that indeed it was so. The driver drew his horses to a walk, and Rosalie perceived that many of the other stages were in sight, some of them stopping, and that tourists were entering them from the roadside. Soon it became the turn of the last stage, and Rosalie’s heart bounded to recognize all the companions of the morning. She saw Mrs. Bruce gaze sharply at the stout man in her seat by the driver. “Won’t your mother go up there, Nixie?” asked Irving. Mrs. Nixon refusing, her son put Miss Maynard up, the young woman climbing to the place with alacrity. Rosalie turned her head to gaze fixedly at the other side of the road. She grew warm as she felt some one climb into the seat beside her, but did not turn her head back, even when the coach started. Finding herself not addressed, presently she turned about and looked squarely into the eyes of Betsy Foster. “How do you do, Rosalie?” said the latter composedly. “O Betsy!” exclaimed the girl softly, and seized the older woman’s hand with an appealing grasp. Betsy gave her one-sided smile, and Rosalie’s eyes filled. “You don’t seem surprised!” she said unsteadily. “I am, though,” returned Betsy. “I supposed we’d left you behind at Norris.” “You saw me there! Did the—did Mrs. Bruce?” Betsy shook her head. “No; and she hasn’t yet; but I was thinkin’ about you as we came up to the stage, and when all of a sudden I saw you, I thought I’d get in here.”