BEGGARS ON HORSEBACK. 39 



A splendid hill, covered to the summit with blue- 

 green pine-trees, looms up in front of it ; behind 

 is a long valley, pierced through the heart by a 

 flashing mountain - stream ; all round are more 

 hills topped with yet more pine-woods ; a snow- 

 peak and a chalet would have made it Switzer- 

 land ; and doubtless, in these days of enterprise 

 and Earl's Court, the thing could be arranged. 



The hotel seemed to be well stocked with 

 visitors. We had believed ourselves to be before 

 the season, and yet through the shrubs of a 

 garden at the end of the house we saw several 

 ladies in bright-coloured blouses, sitting on garden 

 seats and tending children of all ages, a most edi- 

 fying and domestic spectacle ; and I began to be 

 sorry for Miss O'Flannigan, who had refused to 

 take advice and a walking skirt, and would have 

 to come down to dinner in her habit. Within was 

 a strange emptiness — a large uninhabited coffee- 

 room, an absence of table d'hote, and an assiduous 

 interest on the part of the landladies, of whom 

 there seemed to be several. Apparently the vir- 



