Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad
PREFATORY:
The author is pleased to be able to present a sequel to "Aunt Jane's
Nieces," the book which was received with so much favor last year. Yet
it is not necessary one should have read the first book to fully
understand the present volume, the characters being taken to entirely
new scenes.
The various foreign localities are accurately described, so that those
who have visited them will recognize them at once, while those who have
not been so fortunate may acquire a clear conception of them. It was my
good fortune to be an eye witness of the recent great eruption of
Vesuvius.
Lest I be accused of undue sensationalism in relating the somewhat
dramatic Sicilian incident, I will assure my reader that the story does
not exaggerate present conditions in various parts of the island. In
fact, Il Duca and Tato are drawn from life, although they did not have
their mountain lair so near to Taormina as I have ventured to locate
it. Except that I have adapted their clever system of brigandage to the
exigencies of this story, their history is truly related. Many who have
travelled somewhat outside the beaten tracks in Sicily will frankly
vouch for this statement.
Italy is doing its best to suppress the Mafia and to eliminate
brigandage from the beautiful islands it controls, but so few of the
inhabitants are Italians or in sympathy with the government that the
work of reformation is necessarily slow. Americans, especially, must
exercise caution in travelling in any part of Sicily; yet with proper
care not to tempt the irresponsible natives, they are as safe in Sicily
as they are at home.
Aunt Jane's nieces are shown to be as frankly adventurous as the average
clear headed American girl, but their experiences amid the environments
of an ancient and still primitive civilization are in no wise
extraordinary.
EDITH VAN DYNE.
CHAPTER I
THE DOYLES ARE ASTONISHED
It was Sunday afternoon in Miss Patricia Doyle's pretty flat at 3708
Willing Square. In the small drawing room Patricia--or Patsy, as she
preferred to be called--was seated at the piano softly playing the one
"piece" the music teacher had succeeded in drilling into her flighty
head by virtue of much patience and perseverance.
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In a village there lived two men who had the self-same name. Both were named Claus. But one of them owned four horses, and the other owned only one horse; so to distinguish between them people called the man who had four horses Big Claus, and the man who had only one horse Little Claus. Now I'll tell you what happened to these two, for this is a true story.
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