d finding a large glass
stopper by the bowl, entirely plugged up the aperture with it.

"But may not the fish die?" said Miss Abbott. "They have no air."

"Fish live on water, not on air," he replied in a knowing voice, and sat
down. Apparently he was at his ease again, for he took to spitting on
the floor. Philip glanced at Lilia but did not detect her wincing. She
talked bravely till the end of the disgusting meal, and then got up
saying, "Well, Philip, I am sure you are ready for by-bye. We shall meet
at twelve o'clock lunch tomorrow, if we don't meet before. They give us
caffe later in our rooms."

It was a little too impudent. Philip replied, "I should like to see you
now, please, in my room, as I have come all the way on business." He
heard Miss Abbott gasp. Signor Carella, who was lighting a rank cigar,
had not understood.

It was as he expected. When he was alone with Lilia he lost all
nervousness. The remembrance of his long intellectual supremacy
strengthened him, and he began volubly--

"My dear Lilia, don't let's have a scene. Before I arrived I thought I
might have to question you. It is unnecessary. I know everything. Miss
Abbott has told me a certain amount, and the rest I see for myself."

"See for yourself?" she exclaimed, and he remembered afterwards that she
had flushed crimson.

"That he is probably a ruffian and certainly a cad."

"There are no cads in Italy," she said quickly.

He was taken aback. It was one of his own remarks. And she further upset
him by adding, "He is the son of a dentist. Why not?"

"Thank you for the information. I know everything, as I told you before.
I am also aware of the social position of an Italian who pulls teeth in
a minute provincial town."

He was not aware of it, but he ventured to conclude that it was pretty,
low. Nor did Lilia contradict him. But she was sharp enough to say,
"Indeed, Philip, you surprise me. I understood you went in for equality
and so on."

"And I understood that Signor Carella was a member of the Italian
nobility."

"Well, we put it like that in the telegram so as not to shock dear Mrs.
Herriton. But it is true. He is a younger branch. Of course families
ramify--just as in yours there is your cousin Joseph." She adroitly
picked out the only undesirable member of the Herriton clan. "Gino's
father is courtesy itself, and rising rapidly in his profession. This
very month he leaves Monteriano, and sets up at Poggibonsi. And for
my