true there is not much here to tempt you during the day; but
numbers will arrive for the four o'clock _table-d'hôte_. In the
evening there will be quite a little society, and we shall
dance. I assure you, monsieur, that we also know how to be gay
at Chaudfontaine."

"I don't doubt it," answered Graham; "and though I don't care
much about dancing----"

"You don't care about dancing?" interrupted the Belgian with
astonishment; "but that is of your nation, Monsieur. You are
truly an extraordinary people, you English; you travel, you
climb, you ride, you walk, and you do not dance!"

"I think we dance too, sometimes," said the young Englishman,
laughing; "but I own that it is walking I care for most just
now--the country about here seems to be wonderfully pretty."

"In fact it is not bad," said the Belgian, with the air of
paying it a compliment; "and if you take care to return in
time for the four o'clock _table-d'hôte_, you cannot do better
than make a little promenade to gain an appetite for dinner. I
can promise you an excellent one--they keep an admirable cook.
I entreat you not to think of leaving for Brussels; and
precisely you cannot go," he added, drawing out his watch,
"for it is just the hour that the train leaves, and I hear the
whistle at this moment."

And, in fact, though they could not see the train from where
they stood, they heard its shrill whistle as it rushed into