“My dear George, the story of life could no more go on than the story of a novel if there was no imbroglio. Take away from the daily course of events all misunderstandings, all sorrows, and all misconceptions, and there would be no call on humanity for acts of energy, or trustfulness, or devotion. We want all these things just that we may surmount them.” Whether he did not fully concur with the theory, or that it puzzled him, L'Estrange made no reply, and soon after left the room to prepare for their departure. And now they went the road up the valley of the Upper Rhine--that wild and beautiful tract, so grand in outline and so rich in color, that other landscapes seem cold after it. They wound along the Via Mala, and crossed over the Splugen, most picturesque of Alpine passes, and at last reached Chiavenna. “All this is very enjoyable, George,” said Julia, as they strolled carelessly in a trellised vine-walk; “but as I am the courier, and carry the money-sack, it is my painful duty to say, we can't do it much longer. Do you know how much remains in that little bag?” “A couple of hundred francs perhaps,” said he, listlessly. “Not half that--how could there, you careless creature? You forget all the extravagances we have been committing, and this entire week of unheard-of indulgence.” 'I was always 'had up' for my arithmetic at school. Old Hoskins used to say my figures would be the ruin of me. The tone of honest sorrow in which he said this threw Julia into a fit of laughing. “Here is the total of our worldly wealth,” said she, emptying on a rustic table the leather bag, and running her fingers through a mass of silver in which a few gold coins glittered. [Illustration: 298] “It seems very little, Julia,” said he, despondingly. “Worse than that. It is less than it looks, George; these tarnished pieces, with a mock air of silver, are of most ignoble origin; they were born copper, and are only silver by courtesy. Let me see what it all makes.” While she was arranging the money in little piles on the table L'Estrange lighted a cigarette, and puffed it in leisurely fashion. “Julia,” said he, at last, “I hope I haven't committed a dreadful folly in that investment of your two thousand. You know I took the shares I told you of?” “I remember, George, you said so; but has anything occurred to make you augur ill of the enterprise?” “No; I know no more of it now than on the first day I heard of it. I was dazzled by the splendid promise of twenty per cent instead of three that you had received heretofore. It seemed to me to be such a paltry fear to hesitate about doing what scores of others were venturing. I felt as if I were turning away from a big fence while half the field were ready to ride at it. In fact, I made it a question of courage, Julia, which was all the more inexcusable as the money I was risking was not my own.” “Oh, George, you must not say that to me.”