The Europeans

is not at its best when the mouldy tombstones and funereal umbrage have received the ineffectual refreshment of a dull, moist snow-fall. If, while the air is thickened by this frost

movement half caressing, half corrective. An attentive observer might have fancied that during these periods of desultory self-inspection her face forgot its melancholy; but as soon as she neared the window again it began to proclaim that she was a very ill-pleased woman. And indeed, in what met her eyes there was little to be pleased with. The window-panes were battered by the sleet; the head-stones in the grave-yard beneath seemed to be holding themselves askance to keep it out of their faces. A tall iron railing protected them from the street, and on the other side of the railing an assemblage of Bostonians were trampling about in the liquid snow. Many of them were looking up and down; they appeared to be waiting for something. From time to time a strange vehicle drew near to the place where they stood,-such a vehicle as the lady at the window, in spite of a considerable acquaintance with human inventions, had never seen before: a huge, low omnibus, painted in brilliant colors, and decorated apparently with jangling bells, attached to a species of groove in the pavement, through which it was dragged, with a great deal of rumbling, bouncing and scratching, by a couple of remarkably small horses. When it reached a certain point t

commonly modeled; she had a thick nose, and when she smiled-she was constantly smiling-the lines beside it rose too high, toward her eyes. But these eyes were charming: gray in color, brilliant, quickly glancing, gently resting, full of intelligence. Her forehead was very low-it was her only handsome feature; and she had a great abundance of crisp dark hair, finely frizzled, which was always braided in a manner that suggested some Southern or Eastern, some remotely foreign, woman. She had a large collec

r eyes. "It's too horrible!" she exclaimed. "I shall go back-I sh

the young man softly, sketching

the glowing bed of anthracite coal in the grate. "Did you ever see anything so hideous as that fire?" she demanded. "Did you ever see anything so-so affreux as-as ev

ment. "Those little blue tongues, dancing on top of the crimson embers, ar

tured, my dear," his

head on one side. His tongue was gently moving along

" said the lady, loo

tch. "I think you mean simp

h a little bitter laugh. "It's the darkest d

rrow," rejoined

s any doubt about it today, there certainly wi

iving his pencil. Then at last, "There are

hem. Not to recognize one's mistakes-that would be happiness

lways intent upon his drawing, "it's the f

't call it a mistake," answered

laugh. "You, at least, are cleve

o when I pro

proposed it?" as

e him a little stare. "Do y

ke the blame," he said,

ou make no difference in these thin

augh again. "If that means I ha

said his sister. "That is quite

finished a drawing that w

the lady, putti

a woman were to ask you to marry her you would say, 'Certainly, my dear, with pleasure!' And you would marry her and be ridic

g his arms a little; he walked to the window. "Th

apital. If I had not been convinced of that I should never h

country!" exclaimed the young man, and

he omnibus?" asked his companion. "W

ry good-looking man insi

n this country don't seem at all handsome. As for the women-

he word at this moment for his strongly-lighted face. He was eight and twenty years old; he had a short, slight, well-made figure. Though he bore a noticeable resemblance to his sister, he was a better favored person: fair-haired, clear-faced, witty-looking, with a delicate finish of feature and an expression at once urbane and not at all serious, a warm blue eye, an eyebrow finely drawn and excessively arched-an eyebrow which, if ladies wro

f snow," said his sister. "B

le figures in black," the young man answered, laughing. "And I s

he lady, "that mamma ever

And it's not like this-every day. You will se

us? Tomorrow I

shall y

ck to Silberstadt. I shall w

her, with his crayon poised. "My dear Eugeni

hollow of a wave. It was extremely clever, and full of a sort of tragi-comical power. Eugenia dropped her eyes upon it and made a sad grimace. "How can you draw such odious scenes?" she asked. "I should like to throw it into the fire!" And she tossed the paper away. Her brother watch

e you, dear sister! I am delighted to be

possession of me. I had los

ncil. "It is evidently a most curious and interes

. "High spirits are doubtless an excellent thing," she said; "but you giv

s, smiling; he tapped his handsome nose w

se. You have gone through life thanking fortune for such very sm

a little, I think, to present

x. You forget tha

rejoined Felix, laughing. "I hoped

thirty years old, and that you are nothing but an obscure Boh

ss! I have a hundred pounds in my pocket. I have an engagement to make fifty sketches, and I mean

ambitious,"

aroness," the yo

n has brought me to this dreadful place!" She glanced about her-the room had a certain vulgar nudity; the bed and the window were curtainless-and she gave a little

sat down beside her and showed her his sketch. "Now, don't you think that's pretty

her lap. "Yes, it is very clever," she said. And in a

wh

e things, and

really can't say. It will b

eople can't!" s

they are rich?" a

king at him. "Heavenly powers!" she murmur

ch pleasanter if they ar

not known they were ric

ory eye with his bright, contented glance. "Yes

unt upon their being clever or friendly-at first-or elegant or

y had begun to brighten. "I count upon their being rich," he said at last, "and powerful, and clever, and friendly, and elegant, and interesting, and generally delightful! Tu vas v

n broke out through the snow-clouds and jumped into the Barones

and see the wo

own vernal; even in the bustling streets there was an odor of earth and blossom. Felix was immensely entertained. He had called it a comical country, and he went about laughing at everything he saw. You would have said that American civilization expressed itself to his sense in a tissue of capital jokes. The jokes were certainly excellent, and the young man's merriment was joyous and genial. He possessed what is called the pictorial sense; and this first gl

in that foreign tongue which they both appeared t

Baroness answered. "I don't lik

o have gone to the East. The way the sky touches the house-tops is just like Cairo; and the re

his companion. "They can't be said to hide

heir faces!" cried Felix. "Thei

t an enormous fair-that the entertainment and the désagréments were very much the same. She found herself alternately smiling and shrinking; the show was very curious, but it was probable, from moment to moment, that one would be jostled. The Baroness had never seen so many people walking about before; she had never been so mixed up with people she did not know. But little by little she felt that this fair was a more serious undertaking. She went with her brother into a large public garden, which seemed very pretty, but where she was surprised at seeing no carriages. The afternoon was drawing to a close; the coarse, vivid grass and the slender tree-boles were gilded by the level sunbeams-gilded as with gold that was fresh from the mine. It

ction that our cousins ar

"They are very pretty," she said, "but they are mere l

t; Felix declared that he had never seen such a gorgeous mixture of colors. The Baroness also thought it splendid; and she was perhaps the more easily pleased from the fact that while she stood there she was conscious of much admiring observation on the part of various nice-looking people who passed that way, and to whom a distinguished, strikingly-dressed woman with a foreign air, exclaiming upon the beauties of nature on a Bo

ack to Silberstadt

ow," said t

to the Reig

t they evidently know not

said the young man. "I ad

que cities, he yet found plenty of local color in the little Puritan metropolis. That evening, aft

impatient,"

all those pretty girls today? If one's cousins are o

nia. "We ought to have brought so

le would not be

none the worse for tha

t we should come out here and fraternize with our relatives. You said that it was the prompting of natural affect

all that?" ask

was greatly

ly was going to say something, but she checked herself and resumed her walk. Then, in a few moments, she said something different, wh

adam," answered Felix, laughin

mes," said t

e arrival of a personage so extraordinary. They

ive glance she went on. "You will go and examine, and report. You will come back and tell me who they are and what they are; their number, gender, their respective ages-all about them. Be sure you observe everything; be ready to describe to me the locality, the acc

asked Felix, who had a lively faith in

t justness that he admired, she replied, "Say what you please. Tell my story in t