“You must wonder what brought me at this unusual time of day,” he said.
“Any time’s good that brings you. But what in particular was it?”
“I wanted to ask you to keep free next Saturday afternoon and, if you will be so good, spend it in part with me. I should like to take you to Mrs. Grangeon’s.”
“Mrs. Grangeon’s...?”
“Don’t you remember? Antonia! It is Antonia’s real 143name. On the first evening of our acquaintance you had a good deal to say about her. If I remember rightly, you expressed then a desire to meet her–see her face.”
“Yes, yes. Antonia, of course.”
“She is a figure of importance here in Florence. She is in truth a very gifted woman–in her way, great, and of wide reputation. And she is clever, except in just some little spots. Geniuses, one has observed, are seldom quite free from such spots. She has kept herself very much to herself now for several years, so that an occasion to see her is grasped eagerly. This affair of hers on Saturday is the first thing of the kind in an age. Her villa at Bellosguardo is most interesting and full of interesting things. And the view from her terrace is worthy of a pilgrimage. You perceive, Mrs. Hawthorne, that I am doing what I can to faire valoir the scrap of entertainment I have to offer.”
“I think it perfectly lovely of you! Of course I’ll go, and delighted to. And see how it fits in–” She kindled to joyful enthusiasm. “We’ve just bought a lot of her books. We realized we’d got to have some books to make this room look finished off. We bought hers in paper covers and have had them beautifully bound. Just look here.” She went to take a specimen from the bookcase, a white parchment volume with gold tooling, a crimson fleur-de-lys painted on the front cover. “Aren’t they lovely? An idea! We’ll take some of them up to her and ask her to write her name in them. Wouldn’t that be flattering?”
“Ye ... es.”
“I’ve been trying to read some of it over since these came home from the binder’s. My! Aren’t those people of hers wonderful–where you’d think the ladies never 144could have a stomache-ache nor the gentlemen a corn!”