She smilingly shook her head.
"Are you dining at home?" he asked.
She gave him a quizzing look:
"Yes," she said.
He was unwilling to ask any further questions, was afraid lest he should wound her:
"Be kind," he said, "and dine with me this evening. I'm bored. I have no friends in Rome at the moment. Everybody is away. Not at the Grand-Hôtel, but in a snug little restaurant, where they know me. I'll come and fetch you at seven o'clock. Do be nice and come! For my sake!"
He could not restrain his tears.
"I shall be delighted," she said, softly, with her smile.
They were standing in the porch of the house in the Via del Babuino where the studio was. He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a fervent kiss upon it. Then he took off his hat and hurried away. She went slowly up the stairs, mastering her emotion before she entered the studio.