482 CHARMING.

. she nodded in such a friendly way at the company, that each one
might imagine he or she was the person who was to be taken to
Italy. “ Yes, we will go to Italy! but not to those parts where
there are robbers—-we’ll keep to Rome, and to the great high roads
where one is safe.”

And the daughter sighed very quietly. And how much may
lie in one little sigh, or be placed in it! The young man placed
a great deal in it. The two blue eyes lit up that evening in honour
of him, must conceal treasures—treasures of the heart and mind
—richer than al] the glories of Rome; and when he left the party
that night he had lost 7s heart—lost it completely, to the young
lady.

The house of the head tax-collector’s widow was now the one
which Mr. Alfred the scuptor most assiduously frequented; and
it was understood that his visits were not intended tor that lady,
though he and she were the people who kept up the conversa-
tion: he came for the daughter’s sake. They called her Kala.
Her name was really Calen Malena, and these two names had
been contracted into the one name, Kala. She was beautiful;
but a few said she was rather dull, and probably slept late of a
morning.

‘“‘ She has always been accustomed to that,” her mother said.
“ She’s a beauty, and they always are easily tired. She sleeps
rather late, but that makes her eyes so clear.’

What a power lay in the depths of those dark blueeyes! “Still
waters run deep.” The young man felt the truth of this proverb,
and his heart had sunk into the depths. He spoke and told his
adventures, and the mamma was as simple and eager in her
questioning as on the first evening of their meeting.

It was a pleasure to hear Alfred describe anything. He spoke
of Naples, of excursions to Mount Vesuvius, and showed coloured
prints of several of the eruptions. And the head tax-collector’s
widow had never heard of them before, or taken time to consider
the question.

“Good Heavens!” she exclaimed. “So that is a burning
mountain: But is it not dangerous to the people round about?”

“Whole cities have been destroyed,” Alfred answered; “for
instance, Pompeii and Herculaneum.”

“But the.poor people !-—And you saw all that with your own
eyes?”

“No, I did not see any of the eruptions represented in these
pictures, but I will show you a picture of my own of an eruption
I saw.”

He laid a pencil sketch upon the table, and mamma, who had
been absorbed in the contemplation of the highly-coloured prints,
threw a glance at the pale drawing, and cried in astonishment,

“Did you see it throw up white fire?”

For a moment Alfred’s respect for Kala’s mamma suffered »