"Only momentarily," she replied; then added: "I was admiring this painting; it is very lovely and—most faithfully portrays the scene from which it was copied."
"Ah! you recognize the—the locality?"
"Perfectly."
"You—you have been in—Rome?" the man faltered.
"Oh, yes."
"Recently?"
There was a sort of breathless intensity about the man as he asked this question.
"No; I was in Rome—in the year 18—."
At this response, Gerald Goddard involuntarily put out his hand and laid it upon the balustrade, near which he was standing, while he gazed spell-bound into the proud, beautiful face before him, searching it with wild, eager eyes.
After a moment he partially recovered himself, and remarked: