Janet was none the less disposed to leap into her special gooseberry-
bush; and her importunity prevailed, so that before Dr. Medlicott
returned to England he escorted her and her mother to Zurich. Then
after full inquiries it was decided that she should have her will,
and follow out her medical course of study, provided she could find a
satisfactory person to board with.
She proposed, and her mother consented, that the two Miss Rays should
be her chaperons, of course with liberal payment. Nita could carry
on her studies in art, and made the plan agreeable to Janet, while
old Miss Ray's eyes, which had begun to suffer from the copying,
would have a rest, and Mrs. Brownlow had as much confidence in her as
in any one Janet would endure.
CHAPTER XXV. THE LAND OF AFTERNOON.
And all at once they sang, "Our island home
Is far beyond the wave, we will no longer roam."
Tennyson.
We must pass over three more years and a half, and take up the scene
in the cloistered court of a Moorish house in Algeria, adapted to
European habits. The slender columns supporting the horse-shoe
arches were trained with crimson passion-flower and bougainvillia,
while orange and gardenia blossom scented the air, and in the midst
of a pavement of mosaic marbles was a fountain, tinkling coolness to
the air which was already heated enough to make it impossible to
cross the court without protection from the sunshine even at nine
o'clock in the morning.
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