Page:Middle Aged Love Stories (IA middleagedlove00bacorich).djvu/150



"And the abbeys, monsieur! Westminster and Oxford and Melrose! Only think of standing—of my standing by Melrose Abbey!"

M. Laroche raised his brows eloquently and appeared lost in contemplation of the picture.

"Ah, yes! Indeed!" he sighed. "Zat is a great abbey—Mel-h-rose!"

"And London, monsieur, and the Tower! And Fleet Street, and Piccadilly, and the Strand! How strange it is to feel that you know them so well, that you love them so well, and yet that you've never seen them. When we used to play, my cousins and I, in Grandfather Endicott's house, and choose what pictures we would have, I always took 'Melrose Abbey from the South' and a big engraving of Windsor Castle. The children used to laugh at me, but I always chose them. Cousin Frank used to tease me and say that I'd never get there, and that girls couldn't travel around