EUROPE 297 



after a while I lost it and have ever since been trying 

 to find it among his collections of short papers, but 

 never succeeded. The morning I went to bid them 

 good-bye she looked for it and showed me one or two 

 that she thought might be the article I liked so much; 

 but I remembered my favorite phrases word for word, 

 and they did not correspond. But just as we were 

 leaving in the late afternoon a package was brought 

 to me — a volume containing the paper I had been 

 seeking this many a year from Mr. Mtiller himself, 

 and my name on the fly-leaf, "w^ith the regards of 

 the author." I don't know w^hen anything has given 

 me so much pleasure. 



Good-night and good-bye. I shall write next from 

 Venice. I am w^ith you at Nahant "every day and 

 hour," as the old song says. 



Casa Biondetti, Venice, June 22, 1895 

 I THINK that our life differs from that of many visi- 

 tors to Venice. Being all women and all of one mind, 

 we are absolutely irresponsible as to hours and rules. 

 Every one breakfasts when she sees fit, and as we have 

 the most amiable of cooks and housekeepers in our 

 padrona, she never minds any amount of unpunctu- 

 ality. A life so free from conventionalities and at the 

 same time so sympathetic was never shared I think 

 by a household of half a dozen people. 



But with all the charm of Venice, I think the great- 

 est happiness of my life here is the thought of Nahant. 

 To picture you all on my piazza or yours, to think of 

 Carrie driving up to your door or mine, all this com- 



