"It is a handsome face," said Trevalyon.
"It is," said Vaura, as she played with the dainties on her plate and sipped her glass of sparkling Moselle.
"On leaving here it will be for either the crush of the London season or Haughton Hall under the new regime," said Lady Esmondet, "and I know just how I shall feel: as a man who, coming home after a day with the hounds, is enjoying a pipe in slippered feet when reminded by madame of the state dinner he has forgotten."
"Either London or the dear old place will be an awakening," said
Vaura, as they wend their way to the salons.
"Yes." said Trevalyon, "for nowhere could one better enjoy the dolce far niente of Italian languor than here. Del Castello, I fancy, lives his life."
"Dum vivimus vivamus," said Vaura.
The salons are a suite of three; taken separately, of medium dimensions; but when the heavy hangings are drawn aside which divide the apartments they form one long handsome room, extending the entire length of the villa, at one end of which is a conservatory where bloom flowers of great beauty, the tiny structure being in miniature form of the villa; it was entered from the salon by sliding doors of stained glass; a smiling statue of Flora was placed near the entrance and seemed to welcome one's approach.
"It is a bower of beauty," said Vaura. The moonlight streaming in from the heaven-illumined gardens outside, bringing into life the scarlet blossoms of the camelia and the satin of her gown, and lending to her beauty a transparent softness, her eyes seeming darker and with a tender light, as she says, looking out upon the garden:
"It is a living idyl in the white moon light; did I gaze long enough, strange fancies would come to me, the statuary would be living marbles, while the leaves of the palm-tree and olive would sing to me of their story as given by the dead poets."
"We must revel in the beauties of the gardens, when to-morrow comes,
Vaura: I am going to be very early tonight," said Lady Esmondet.