When Sepp delivered this news to his party they all laughed and said black bread and milk would do. So Nani invited them into her only room—the rest of the “Hütterl” was kitchen and cow-shed—and brought the feast. A second Sennerin came with her this time, in a costume which might have startled them, if they had not already seen others like it. It consisted of a pair of high blue cotton trousers drawn over her skirts, the latter bulging all round inside the jeans. She had no teeth and there was a large goiter on her neck. “Good Heavens!” muttered the colonel, setting down his bowl of milk and twisting around to stare out of the window behind him. “Poor thing! she can’t help it!” murmured Ruth. “No more she can, you dear, good girl!” said Rex, and his eyes shone very kindly. Ruth caught her breath at the sudden beating of her heart. What was left of daylight came through the little window and fell upon her face; it was as white as a flower, and very quiet. Dusk was setting in when Sepp made his appearance. He stood about in some hesitation, and finally addressed himself to Ruth as the one who could best understand his dialect. She listened and then turned to her father. “Sepp doesn’t exactly know where to lodge me. He had thought I could stay here with Nani—” “Not if I can help it!” cried the colonel. “While,” Ruth went on—“while you and Rex went up to the Jaeger’s hut above there on the rocks. He says it’s very rough at the Jagd-hütte.” “Is anyone else there? What does Sepp mean by telling us now for the first time? ” demanded the colonel sharply. “He says he was afraid I wouldn’t come if I knew how rough it was—and that—” added Ruth, laughing—“he says would have been such a pity! Besides, he thought Nani was alone—and I could have had her room while she slept on the hay in the loft. I’m sure this is as neat as a mountain shelter could be,” said Ruth—looking about her at the high piled feather beds, covered in clean blue and white check, and the spotless floor and the snow white pine table. “I’d like to stay here, only the—the other lady has just arrived too!” “The lady in the blue overalls?” “Yes—and—” Ruth stopped, unwilling to say how little relish she felt for the society of the second Sennerin. But Rex and her father were on their feet and speaking together. “We will go and see about the Jagd-hütte. You don’t mind being left for five minutes?” “The idea! go along, you silly boys!” The colonel came back very soon, and in the best of spirits. “It’s all right, Daisy! It’s a dream of luxury!” and carried her off, hardly giving her time to thank Nani and to say a winningly kind word to the hideous one, who gazed back at her, pitchfork in hand, without reply. No one will ever know whether or not she felt any more cheered by Ruth’s pleasant ways than the cows did who were putting their heads out from the stalls where she was working.