IV.
SWITZERLAND.
"MY children, listen to the words of wisdom ere it is too late," began Lavinia, as the three sat about in dressing-gowns after a busy day in Geneva.
"We listen, go on, Granny," replied the irreverent girls.
"If we stay here a week longer, we are ruined. Firstly, this Metropole is an expensive hotel; also noisy and full of fashionable people, whom I hate. Secondly, the allurements of the jewellers' shops are too much for us, and we had better flee before we spend all our money. Thirdly, if war does break out along the Rhine, as rumour now predicts, Geneva will be crammed with people whose plans, like ours, are upset; therefore we had better skip across the lake, and secure a comfortable place for ourselves at Vevey or Montreux, for we shall probably have to winter there."
