Scarcely had they started from the hotel steps when Flora descried a gondola coming from the opposite direction; and although the features of its occupant were not distinguishable as he reclined beneath the awning, she knew from the first that it was Mr. Earnscliffe as well as when he got out at the Accademia, and waited to hand them on shore.
"At what time shall we desire the gondola to come for us?" asked Mrs. Adair.
"Do not desire it to come at all, Mrs. Adair," said Mr. Earnscliffe, before Flora had time to answer. "Allow me to take you home in mine, and my gondolier shall sing for you: he has a very fine voice."
"Thank you," rejoined Mrs. Adair, and she dismissed their gondola.
This was not a first visit to the Accademia for any of the party; and to Mr. Earnscliffe it was as familiar as such a little world of paintings could be to any one who did not habitually live in its vicinity. This gallery is perhaps richer than that of any other city in Italy in the works of Titian, Domenichino, Jacobo Tintoretto, and the two Palmas; and besides these, it is enriched by the productions of many of the most celebrated names in the history of painting, belonging to foreign schools, as well as to Italy's own. So our friends spent a most agreeable time there, and only regretted that it was a farewell visit.
When they came out, Mr. Earnscliffe said—
"Do you wish to go back at once to your hotel, Mrs. Adair? or shall we row to the Lido and bid the Adriatic adieu? It is such a lovely day, and your last in Venice, that it would be a pity not to spend as much of it as you can in these delightful gondole."
The proposal was accepted. Flora wondered what could have come over Mr. Earnscliffe to make him thus seek to be with them. She thought of the last time that they had looked at pictures together,—it was at the Farnese Palace. How disappointed she had been on that day, and now, how more than realised were all her dreams of the pleasure of visiting such places with one like him.
"Must you really go to-morrow, Mrs. Adair?" he asked.
"Yes, it is all arranged; we go to-morrow to Verona, thence to Botzen; we shall spend a little time at Meran, and then cross the Brenner to Innsbruck."