ON THE MOUNTAIN. 221 



was entirely on my side. It always pleased me to see 

 the love and pride with which these girls invariably 

 spoke of their brothers. There was all the sister's 

 affection, all the genuine woman's pride, in being able 

 to talk of them as their brothers. It was a theme 

 they never tired of listening to, although they never 

 began it ; but if you spoke of them, their countenances 

 betokened satisfaction, and they would say perhaps, 

 " Yes, all the gentlemen like to go out with Maxl ;" 

 or, " Xavier is a good boy, and a good hunter too : 

 he J s a sure shot, and has won a prize this year at 

 the great shooting-match." And when Joseph brought 

 home his richly-embroidered flag, they were more 

 pleased and prouder of it than if he had bought each 

 of them a bright kerchief or a boddice worked with 

 silver. 



" Nanny/' said I, " you promised me a flower for 

 my hat, and you have not given me one yet." 



" Ah, ah ! because you cannot get one of the younger 

 sister you come to me ; is not that it ?" she said archly. 



" No indeed, my good girl, it is not so. It would, 

 I know, be useless for me to ask Marie to give me a 

 flower, though there is some one else, I think, who 

 would not ask in vain." 



" Well, I '11 see if I have one," she said ; and giving 

 her my green hat, she went to her own room, and 

 soon returned with a bright flower stuck jauntily be- 

 side the tuft of hair from the throat of a stag and the 

 downy feathers that were already there decorations in 

 which the mountaineer takes no little pride. 



