But at that moment the gentlemen came upstairs, and the conversation drifted into chit-chat about books which nobody seemed to have read, and pictures which nobody seemed to have seen. Then there was “a little music”—the elderly spectacled dame contributing “My mother bids me bind my hair,” and Mr. Jinxson following suit with “My love, she’s but a lassie yet.” Then somebody’s carriage was announced, and the little party broke up, Lucy naturally being the last to leave. “Flo, you’ve never asked me the details of my last news from Charlie,” whispered Lucy—speaking playfully and meaning no reflection on her sister—as she and the Brands stood on the stairs waiting for the drawing up of Lucy’s cab. “There, make a grievance and a fuss over that!” cried Florence, her nerves breaking between the tension in which they had been held by her anxiety that “all should go off well,” and the consciousness of sundry lapses which she felt sure had not escaped the lynx eyes of Mrs. Jinxson. “Of course, I expect you to tell me anything that is worth telling! But you just lie in wait to catch——” “Your cab, mum,” said the page. And Lucy hastily kissed Florence and kept her news to herself. (_To be continued._) BOOKS BEFORE TRAVEL. BY DORA DE BLAQUIÈRE. PART II. I have put together the Latin nations, as well as those of Eastern Europe, for convenience’ sake. Indeed the literature of Italy forms, of itself, one library, and that of Venice another; for there seems no native of any distant country who has not tried his prentice hand on Venice, in some of her many aspects. The American authors have been much attracted by the Queen of the Adriatic. From Byron to Browning, our English masters of poetry have delighted in it, and we must by no means omit the _Stories of Venice_ and other works on it by Ruskin, which will take some time to read. Shelley, Rogers, and Browning—the first-named in _Euganean Hills_ and the last in _In a Gondola_ and many other poems—showed they were full of its spirit and colour. Howell lived there for many years, and has given us _Venetian Life_, besides _Italian Journeys_, _Tuscan Cities_, and _Alfieri_ and the _Modern Italian Poets_. Its book-lore, music, and the _Technical History of its Lace Manufacture_, glass, ceramics, and architecture, have all been written of in turn by different writers. One of the last and best is Robertson’s _Bible of St. Mark’s_. J. A. Symonds has written _New Italian Sketches_, and _Life on a Doge’s Farm_. There is also a delightful new book in A. M. Hopkinson Smith’s _Gondola Days_. Mrs. Oliphant has a book on the _Makers of Venice_, as well as the _Makers of Florence_.