“I hope you have not abandoned your French?”
“No, sir; but I devote less time than formerly to it.”
“If agreeable to you, we will resume the exercises as soon as I can wield my pen.”
“If you can teach me Italian, I should prefer it; especially since I have learned to pronounce French tolerably well?”
“What use do you expect to have for Italian,—at least, at present? French is much more essential.”
“I have a good reason for desiring to make the change, though just now I do not choose to be driven into any explanations.”
“Pardon me. I had no intention of forcing your confidence. When in Italy, I always contrive to understand and 132 make myself understood; but my knowledge and use of the language is rather too slip-shod to justify my attempting to teach you idioms, hallowed as the medium through which Dante and Ariosto charmed the world. Miss Dexter, Muriel’s governess, is a very thorough and accomplished linguist, and speaks Italian not only gracefully but correctly. I have already engaged her to teach you whatever she may deem advisable when she comes here to live.”
“You are very kind. Is she a young person?”
“She is a very highly cultivated and elegant woman, probably twenty-five or six years old, and has been in Florence with Muriel.”
Involuntarily and unconsciously the orphan sighed, and the muscles in her broad forehead tangled terribly.