Flora felt so unhappy that it was difficult for her to prevent the tears which stood in her eyes from falling. She had fortunately refused to engage herself for the dance which was now beginning, pleading a wish to rest before the cotillon which was to follow it, so she had a little time to recover herself.
This conversation was not long in passing, yet, short as it was, Mr. Earnscliffe had observed it,—he saw the parting, and the tears in her eyes afterwards, yet he never doubted that she had accepted Mr. Lyne, and he thought to himself, "What! even in the first moments, is she bewailing the sale which she has made of herself, and the wrong she is doing to him? I suppose she is not quite hardened as yet in her rôle, and that it costs her a few tears to act it—soon enough it will become a second nature to her!... What soulless things women are! And I was once so silly as to worship them; but I was cured of that folly long ago. This is only another proof of their worthlessness; and that, too, in one of whom I felt half inclined to believe better things. How she excited my curiosity as we walked home the other day from the Farnese Palace! I could not comprehend her.... Well, at all events I will go and say good-bye to her, since we may perhaps never meet again."
As soon as he got close to where she was sitting he said, "I am come to bid you farewell, Miss Adair. I leave Rome to-morrow."
She started as she heard his voice, for she had been leaning her head upon her hand, and had not seen him approach, and now, as he took the vacant place beside her, she looked rather confused, and felt very much at a loss for something to say, so she repeated, "Leaving Rome to-morrow?"
"Yes, I am going to the neighbourhood of Naples; it is so beautiful there in spring."
"I should imagine so; spring is beautiful everywhere, and in Southern Italy it must be doubly so."
He did not answer, and, to break the silence, she added, "We go in the very opposite direction—northwards. I am longing to see Venice."
"But you do not go immediately," he rejoined; looking at her inquiringly, "you remain here some time longer, and then you begin your travels?" he laid a slight stress on your.
"No, we go at once. What should we remain here for when all our friends are gone? New scenes give variety, and—for the time at least—interest."
Her tone was sad and listless as she said this, and again he fixed his full blue eyes on her face with a meditative and a questioning gaze. She wondered what he meant by looking at her thus, as if he would read her very thoughts, and feeling that it was most unpleasant to be gazed at in this way, she exclaimed, "Mr. Earnscliffe!"