hotels; but
she confessed, after he left them at the next station, that she should
have felt more at home if he had been going on to London with them. She
philosophized him to the disadvantage of her own countrymen as much less
offish than a great many New York and Boston peuple. He had given her a
good opinion of the whole English nation; and the clergyman, who had been
so nice to them at Liverpool, confirmed her friendly impressions of
England by getting her a small omnibus at the station in London before he
got a cab for himself and his wife, and drove away to complete his own
journey on another road. She celebrated the omnibus as if it were an
effect of his goodness in her behalf. She admired its capacity for
receiving all their trunks, and saving the trouble and delay of the
express, which always vexed her so much in New York, and which had nearly
failed in getting her baggage to the steamer in time.

The omnibus remained her chief association with London, for she decided
to take the first through train for Italy in the morning. She wished to
be settled, by which she meant placed in a Florentine hotel for the
winter. That lord, as she now began and always continued to call
Lioncourt, had first given her the name of the best little hotel in
Florence, but as it had neither elevator nor furnace heat in it, he
agreed in the end that it would not do for her, and mentioned the most
modern and expensive house on the Lungarno. He told her he did not think
she need telegraph for rooms; but she took this precaution before leaving
London, and was able to secure them at a price which seemed to her quite
as much as she would have had to pay for the same rooms at a first class
hotel on the Back Bay.

The manager had reserved for her one of the best suites, which had just
been vacated by a Russian princess. "I guess you better cable to your
folks where you ah', Clementina," she said. "Because if you're satisfied,
I am, and I presume we sha'n't want to change as long as we stay in
Florence. My, but it's sightly!" She joined Clementina a moment at the
windows looking upon the Arno, and the hills beyond it. "I guess you'll
spend most of your time settin' at this winder, and I sha'n't blame you."

They had arrived late in the dull, soft winter afternoon. The landlord
led the way himself to their apartment, and asked if they would have
fire; a facchino came in and kindled roaring blazes on the hearths; at
the same time a servant li