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Perhaps there is no lovelier effect in all nature than a Sicilian sunset, when the sky is one rich blaze of colour and the sea below reflects every vivid hue as in a mirror,--when the very air breathes voluptuous indolence, and all the restless work of ana, for once in her quick restless life, felt the sudden charm of sweet peace and holy tranquility, as she sat, or rather reclined at ease in a long lounge chair after dinner in her rose- the intense radiance of the heavens burning into the still waters beneath

She had passed the afternoon going over her whole house and gardens, and to the Marchese Giulio Rivardi had expressed herself completely satisfied,--while he, to whom unlimited means had been entrusted to carry out her wishes, wondered silently as to the real extent of her fortune, and why she should have spent soa "palazzo" for herself alone An occasional thought of "the only man" she had said she was "disposed" to like, teased his brain; but he was not petty-minded or jealous He was keenly and sincerely interested in her intellectual capacity, and he knew, or thought he knew, the nature of woure in white, with the red glow of the sun playing on the gold uptwisted coil of her hair,--a few people of the neighbourhood had joined her at dinner, and these were seated about, sipping coffee and chatting in the usual frivolous way of after-dinner guests--one or two of thelish who hadAuess you're pretty satisfied with your location, Miss Royal"--said one of these, a pleasant-faced grey-haired man, who for four or five years past had wintered in Sicily with his wife, a frail little creature always on the verge of the next world--"It would be difficult toto coana turned her lovely eyes indolently towards hihtly to and fro

"One thing? What is that?" she queried

"A husband!"

She se!" she said--"To my mind, quite unnecessary, and likely to spoil the h the Marchese Rivardi DID ask ardens without love! A sort of ethical conundrum!"