as unhappy; it was
possible she might offer to help him back to happiness. She immediately
perceived his hesitation.

"I see no reason why we should not be frank," she said. "I should think
we were excellently placed for that sort of thing. You remember that
formerly I cared very little what I said, don't you? Well, I care
absolutely not at all now. I say what I please, I do what I please! How
did Mr. Hudson receive the news of my marriage?"

"Very badly," said Rowland.

"With rage and reproaches?" And as Rowland hesitated again--"With silent
contempt?"

"I can tell you but little. He spoke to me on the subject, but I stopped
him. I told him it was none of his business, or of mine."

"That was an excellent answer!" said Christina, softly. "Yet it was a
little your business, after those sublime protestations I treated you
to. I was really very fine that morning, eh?"

"You do yourself injustice," said Rowland. "I should be at liberty now
to believe you were insincere."

"What does it matter now whether I was insincere or not? I can't
conceive of anything mattering less. I was very fine--is n't it true?"

"You know what I think of you," said Rowland. And for fear of being
forced to betray his suspicion of the cause of her change, he took
refuge in a commonplace. "Your mother, I hope, is well."

"My mother is in the enjoyment of superb health, and may be seen
every evening at the Casino, at the Baths of Lucca, confiding to every
new-comer that she has married her daughter to a pearl of a prince."

Rowland was anxious for news of Mrs. Light's companion, and the natural
course was frankly to inquire about him. "And the Cavaliere Giacosa is
well?" he asked.

Christina hesitated, but she betrayed no other embarrassment. "The
Cavaliere has retired to his native city of Ancona, upon a pension, for
the rest of his natural life. He is a very good old man!"

"I have a great regard for him," said Rowland, gravely, at the same time
that he privately wondered whether the Cavaliere's pension was paid
by Prince Casamassima for services rendered in connection with his
marriage. Had the Cavaliere received his commission? "And what do you
do," Rowland continued, "on leaving this place?"

"We go to Italy--we go to Naples." She rose and stood silent a moment,
looking down the valley. The figure of Prince Casamassima appeared in
the distance, balancing his white umbrella. As her eyes rested upon it,
Rowland imagined that he sa