doctor's purse. Now, of course, this needs no consideration."

So they planned to go there for a short visit; and on their return it
would be time to pack their trunks for Florence, where they were to stop
two or three days before going northward toward Venice.

A morning ride from Rome to Naples during the early days of May is
idyllic. In the smiling sunshine they rushed on through wide meadows
covered with luxuriant verdure and vineyards flushed with delicate
greens. After they had passed Capua, which is magnificently situated on
a wide plain,--amphitheatre-like within its half-circle of lovely hills,
flanked behind by the Apennines,--Malcom said, as he finally drew in his
head from the open window and, with a very contented look, settled back
into a corner of the compartment, with one arm thrown about his mother's
shoulders:--

"It is no wonder that old Hannibal's army grew effeminate after the
soldiers had lived here for some months, and so was easily conquered.
Life could not have had many hardships in such a place as this.

"I declare!" he added with a laugh as he shook back the wind-blown hair
from his forehead; "it is difficult to realize these days in what
century one is living. My mind has been so full of ancient history
lately that I feel quite like an antique myself."

"I know," answered his uncle with a smile, "how life widens and
lengthens as thought expands under the influence of travel through
historic scenes. One may study history from books for a lifetime and
never realize it as he would could he, even for an hour, be placed upon
the very spot where some important event took place. What a fact