“It isn’t dilapidated!” she retorted. “It has only just reached perfection.”
“The perfection of old age,” said Violet. “I love it, too, but I’m not as idiotic about it as Patty. I see its defects.”
“I don’t,” insisted Patty, stoutly, “for it hasn’t any.”
“Good for you,” cried Lank. “That’s true loyalty, not to see the imperfections of your friends, whether they have any or not. But here’s the Forum, fairly running to meet us.”
“Oh, isn’t it great!” exclaimed Patty, as she looked eagerly at the picturesque ruins standing out sharply against the blue Italian sky.
“What was the Forum for, in the first place?” asked Violet.
“In earliest times it was a market-place,” said Peter, “but later——”
“Oh,” broke in the irrepressible Patty, “then, I suppose, this little Roman went to market, this little Roman staid home.”
“But no little Roman had roast beef,” said Lank. “At least, I suppose they might have done so, but it doesn’t seem appropriate.”