Various localities had been suggested and talked over without any determination being arrived at, when Kitty observed, "Now I've quite a new place to propose; and that's Corsica. I saw it looking just like a purple cloud resting on the sea the other day, and I have a great fancy to go and see it close. For one thing, there's no railway there yet; and I should like, for once in my life, to feel that I was in a land through which locomotives have never puffed. It would be an absolutely new sensation to me, and one which the present rate of civilisation will soon render unattainable, I expect; so I vote we experience it while we can. Besides, I'm sure it would be a good place for sketching. What do you say, Aunt Georgina? Don't you think it'll be pleasant to get away from this cockney old Riviera, and go a little bit out of the regular beaten track where _every one_ goes?" "Kitty, Kitty!" remonstrated her aunt, "it quite distresses me to hear you talk like that! You really shouldn't speak contemptuously of the beaten track, and be so anxious to get away from it. Remember that the fact of its being worn by many feet is also a sure proof of its being smoother, pleasanter, and in every way preferable to other tracks." "All right, aunty," laughed Kitty; "I won't abuse your favourite walk since it vexes you! But doesn't it strike you that I should appreciate its merits all the more if I were to see with my own eyes--just for once you know--how horrid some other route can be? And isn't that a good reason for going to Corsica? _Do_ let's go there; I've quite set my heart on it." Kitty rarely failed to get her own way with Mrs. Rollin, who was as susceptible as the rest of the world to the girl's powers of fascination. But the hesitating, reluctant tone in which the elder lady answered, showed me that she had no great fancy for this Corsican visit. "Well, I hardly know what to say," she returned slowly; "to begin with, How does one get there? and in the next place, What's it like when one _is_ there? I think I've heard you say you were there once, Lord Clement; do help me to make up my mind about this, and advise me whether or not to do what this rash niece of mine wishes." Corsica naturally found favour in the young man's eyes as being convenient for yachting purposes. "Oh, if you ask me, I decidedly advise you to go," he replied; "it's really a pretty sort of country, besides being interesting as the birthplace of Napoleon. By the by you should read Boswell's tour if you go. As for getting there, you _could_ go by steamer either from Marseilles to Ajaccio, or else from Leghorn or Genoa to Bastia. But I hope that you will allow me the pleasure of taking you over in _La Catalina_, which you'll find far more comfortable than either of the regular steamers--they're all nasty, dirty, uneasy little boats, I believe."