blooming----"

Horace waited to hear no more; he left the pair standing and
complimenting each other on the sunny pathway, and wandered
away under the shade of the big trees, crossed the little
stream and the white dusty road beyond, and began to ascend
the hills.

"What an ugly old woman!" thought the lad. "She and my friend
seem to be great allies; she must be at least ten years older
than he is, and he talks to her as if she were a pretty girl;
but she is a Countess apparently, and I suppose that counts
for something. Oh! what a jolly country!"

He strode along whistling, with his hands in his pockets,
feeling as if he had the world before him to explore, and in
the happiest of moods. Such a mood was not rare with Horace
Graham in these youthful days, when, by force of a good
health, and good spirits, and a large capacity for fresh
genuine enjoyment, he was apt to find life pleasant enough on
the whole, though for him it lacked several of the things that
go to make up the ordinary ideal of human happiness. He was
not rich; he had no particular expectations, and but few
family ties, for his parents had both died when he was very
young, and except an aunt who had brought him up, and a
married sister several years older than himself, he had no
near relations in the world. He was simply a medical student,
with nothing to look forward to but pushing his own way, and
making his own path in life as best he could. But he had
plenty of talent, and worked hard at his profession, to which