Isaura took up one of the prints.
"Ah!" she exclaimed, "Sorrento, my Sorrento. Have you ever visited
Sorrento, Mr. Vane?"
Her question and her movement were evidently in conciliation. Was the conciliation prompted by coquetry, or by a sentiment more innocent and artless?
Graham doubted, and replied coldly, as he bent over the print,—
"I once stayed there a few days, but my recollection of it is not sufficiently lively to enable me to recognize its features in this design."
"That is the house, at least so they say, of Tasso's father; of course you visited that?"
"Yes, it was a hotel in my time; I lodged there."
"And I too. There I first read 'The Gerusalemine.'" The last words were said in Italian, with a low measured tone, inwardly and dreamily.
A somewhat sharp and incisive voice speaking in French here struck in and prevented Graham's rejoinder: "Quel joli dessin! What is it, Mademoiselle?"
Graham recoiled; the speaker was Gustave Rameau, who had, unobserved, first watched Isaura, then rejoined her side.