, God, help me to go on
believing in that."

Raising her eyes she saw the evening star sparkling in a wide, soft,
clear space of sky. It seemed infinitely pure and remote, and yet
somehow good and kind, as it had to Dante when he climbed up out of
hell.

"_Quindi uscimmo a riveder le stelle._"

"_Ora si chiude!_" bawled a gardener from the Belvedere.

Mamie came hurrying up the path towards the hill. "Oh, are you there?"
she said in some confusion. "I went some of the way to the other gate
with Daisy."

"I was beginning to be afraid you were lost, so I came along hoping to
meet you," answered Olive.

She said nothing to the girl of what she had seen. It would have been
useless; nothing could alter or abash her inherent unmorality. But
after dinner she wrote a note to Edna and went out herself to post it.

The answer came at noon on the following day. Miss Marvel would be at
home and alone between three and four and would be pleased to see Miss
Agar then; meanwhile she remained very sincerely her friend.

CHAPTER IV

"Why do you tell me this now?" asked Edna. "The other day when I asked
you if you had known him before you said you had not."

"Something that has happened since then determined me."

Edna's room was full of flowers, roses, narcissi and violets, and the
air was heavy with their scent. Filippo had never failed in his
_petits soins_. It was so easy to give an order at the florist's, and
the bill would come in presently, after the wedding, and be paid in
American dollars. There were boxes of sweets too; and a volume of
Romola, bound in white and gold, lay on the table. Edna had been
looking at the inscription on the fly-leaf when Olive came in.
"_Carissima_" he had written, and she had believed him, but that was
half an hour ago. Now her small body was shaken with sobs, her face
was stained with tears because that faith she had had was dying.

The chill at her heart made her feel altogether cold, and she edged
her chair nearer to the fire, and put her feet up on the fender.

"I wish I could feel it was not true, but somehow though I have been
so fond of him I have not trusted him. Well, your cousin was
beautiful, and perhaps he had known her a long time before he knew me.
He wanted to say good-bye kindly. He was entangled--such things
happen, I know. He could not help what happened afterwards. That was
not his fault."

Olive could not meet her pleading eyes. "I thought something like t