She extends a shapely arm. Her finger points to a white flower growing
out upon the face of the precipice beside them.

"Do you see that flower?" she asks.

"I do," he replies, calmly.

"I would like to possess it."

The young man looks down. A fall means instant death, and it would be
impossible for even an experienced Alpine traveler to pass along the
face of the rock in safety.

"I see no means of reaching the flower, or I assure you I would gladly
secure it for you."

"Ah! but a bold man would climb out there."

"Pardon--he would be a fool--his life would pay the penalty for a pretty
girl's whim. Unfortunately, perhaps, my life is too precious to some one
other than myself, to admit of the sacrifice. I am willing to do much
for Lady Ruth, but I decline to be made a fool of."

"Well spoken," begins the professor.

"Philander!" exclaims his spouse, and the little man draws in his head
very much after the style of a tortoise.

"Coward!"