Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad

undred times, my dears, and your children may come a hundred times more, and yet never see the sights that have greeted us on

rl. "I wouldn't have missed it for an

oose; and it amuses you. Hundreds are lying dead and crushed; and you are lucky to be here. Listen," he dropped his voice to a whisper: "if these Neapolitans could see the rej

it conveyed made them a trifle uncomfortable; but Uncle John

upants eagerly clamoring for passengers to go ashore, or offering fruits, flowers and souvenirs to any who might be induced to purchase. Their indifference to their own and their city's danger was astonish

fficers and their travelling acquaintances, Uncle John placed his nieces and the

s were ankle deep in the streets-a fine, flour-like dust that clung to your clothing, filled your eyes and lungs and seemed to penetrate everywhere. The foliage of the trees a

d as Pompey, or whatever that city was c

tsy, in her cheery voice; "but it m

she marked the destruction of her pretty cloak by the gr

shelter as soon as pos

isible a short distance away. He

to go to

paid no

le. You know you mustn't take a c

y n

r will swi

arriage at all." He reached up and prodded the jehu in the ribs wi

his whip, at the same time bu

Three Weeks without a Master," but not a word the driver of the carriage said seemed to have occurred in the vocabulary of

he volcano, Uncle. The hotel i

the diff

n't k

s just hop in, and l

ehicle, bag and baggage, and t

suve! Drive there darned quick, or

finally stopped at an imposing looking structure. The day was growing darker, and

ishment he had been advised to stop at while in Naples. He compared the sign w

of some books and papers and did not respond or even look up when spoken to. At the concierge's de

id Uncle John. "Fi

as a dull boom, like that of a distant canno

rampage. But never mind that now. We've just come from America, where

d him. Then they fell upon the driver of the carriage, who burst into a torrent of vociferous but wholly u

n gold with the words "Hotel du Vesuve," seemed to underst

pay him th

uch is

dol

y a ju

de no b

't. He ca

t is you who

ha

What does it matter? Your money will do you no g

gloomy picture, and added, lis

drawer, put the six dollars into one section and drew from another two ten-lira notes. The driver took them, bowed res

ooms?" asked

wo-two mad Americans like yourselves. The servants are also gone; the chef ha

l gone?" asked Uncl

r Pompeii. Only Signor Floriano, the proprietor, and

a thousand to ten that we do. And then you'll be glad to realize you've pocketed a little more Am

nature that desire to accumulate which is the prime qualification of his profession. The Americans walk

k; and the man consented to do so prov

at will not matter. To witness the destruction of our beauti

," replied Uncle John. "You get the tru

g room, where the fine ash was sifting in and forming little drifts several inches in thickness. Also the atmosph

them for a time, an

et's hold a council of war. Do you

round him with

r exciting, don't you think?" said Beth. "But

ich destroyed the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Many of the inhabi

atched his hea

the moral of your story is to li

perplexity. "It is likewise true that many other er

s, as yet, and it will take days for them to reach to our windows, provided they're falling

vely, "and I've no right to take foolis

ightened, U

or

the le

t the hotel but o

ill be, afterward

m admiringly, an

eg till I get back," he enjoined them; "I