"And they drove up as far as they could."

"Yes?"

"And I followed. You see, I had nothing else to do--and that little
girl! Besides, it was the most natural thing in the world for me to be
going up; and the fact that I was bent on the same errand as
themselves was sufficient to account for my being near the carriage,
and would prevent them from supposing that I was following them. So,
you see, I followed, and at length they stopped at the Hermitage. I
left my horse there, and strolled forward, without going very far
away; my only idea was to keep the girl in sight. I had no idea that
they would go any further. To ascend the cone seemed quite out of the
question. I thought they would rest at the Hermitage, drink some
Lachryma Christi, and go back. But to my surprise, as I was walking
about, I saw the two young ladies come out and go toward the cone.

"I kept out of the way, as you may suppose, and watched them,
wondering what idea they had. As they passed I heard the younger one--
the child-angel, you know, _my_ girl--teasing the other to make the
ascent of the cone, and the other seemed to be quite ready to agree to
the proposal.

"Now, as far as the mere ascent is concerned, of course you know
_that_ is not much. The guides were there with straps and chairs, and
that sort of thing, all ready, so that there was no difficulty about
that. The real difficulty was in these girls going off unattended; and
I could only account for it by supposing that the chaperon knew
nothing whatever about their proposal. No doubt the old lady was
tired, and the young ones went out, as _she_ supposed, for a stroll;