A Room with a View

at once. Neither the Ages of Faith nor the Age of Doubt had touched him; he was Phaethon in Tuscany driving a cab. And it was Persephone whom he asked leave to pick up on the way, say

rd against imposition. But the ladies interceded, and when it had been made clear

ersation with Lucy. The other two occupants of the carriage were old Mr. Emerson and Miss Lavish. For a dreadful thing had happened: Mr. Beebe, without consulting Mr. Eager, had doubled the size of the party. And though Miss Bartlett and Miss La

, was now impossible. Lucy and Miss Bartlett had a certain style about them, and Mr. Beebe, though unreliable, was a man of parts. B

p, thanks to a heavy lunch and the drowsy atmosphere of Spring. She looked on the expedition as the work of Fate. But for it she would have avoided George Emerson successfully. In an open manner he had

f the whole fabric. There was really something blameworthy (she thought) in their joint contemplation of the shadowy stream, in the common impulse which had turned them to the house without the passing of a look or word. This sense of wickedness had been slight at first. She had nearly joined th

her in civil converse; th

, you are travelling?

r me, no

uman nature," interposed M

am here as

herded together in pensions or hotels, quite unconscious of anything that is outside Baedeker, their one anxiety to get 'done' or 'through' and go on somewhere else. The result is, they mix up towns, rivers, palaces in one ine

to interrupt his mordant wit. "The narrowness and superficial

Helen Laverstock is at present busy over Fra Angelico. I mention her name because we are passing her villa on the left. No, you can only see it if you stand-no, do not stand; you will fall. She is very proud o

"Tell me, where do they place the s

her monographs in the series of 'Mediaeval Byways'? He is working at Gemistus Pletho. Sometimes as I take tea in their beautiful grounds I hear, over the wall, the electric tram squealing up the new road with

ted that they wished to misbehave, it was pleasant for them to be able to do so. They were probably the only people enjoy

Eager, elegantly waving

bene," crooned the driver, an

of the Renaissance, or was he one of its manifestations? The other carriage was left behind. As the pace increased t

id he, with a mart

at. Phaethon, who for some time had been endea

easant. The horses were stopped, the lovers were ordered to disentangle thems

d he, turning round on

trouble to tell him

he shock of stopping had awoke, declared that the lovers must on no account be separated, and patted them on the back

I shall receive scant support. I have always flown in the face

new he was trying it on. He is treating us

ss Lavish, her ardou

e Mr. Beebe called out that after this warning the

piness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there? To be driven by

lett was heard saying that

mouth of Italians is a deep-voiced stream, with unexpected cataracts and boulders to preserve it from monotony. In Mr. Eager's mouth it resembled nothing so much

cy, when the display had ceased

n her glorious contralto. She po

oked at each other. Then Pers

er, smiting his hands together

erson. "It is defeat. You have p

d not speak to him. The old man was refreshed by sleep, and took up the matter

th money. He has bargained to drive us, and he

a person you have classed as typicall

g us well," she sa

ke to throw us out, and most certainly he is justified. And if I were superstitious I'd be frighten

vish br

nifico, or to Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino, or to Lorenzo s

renzo the poet. He wrote a line-so I heard yesterday-whic

resist the opportu

murmured. "'War not with the May

. "Fifty miles of Spring, and we've come up to admire them. Do you suppose there's any difference between Spring in nature and Spring i

romontory which stood out in the plain. It was this promontory, uncultivated, wet, covered with bushes and occasional trees, which had caught the fancy of Alessio Baldovinetti nearly five hundred years before. He had ascended it, that diligent and rather obscure master, possibly with an eye to business, possibly for the joy of ascending. S

your head, even if you have remembered to look at them before starti

ferent directions. Finally they split into groups. Lucy clung to Miss Bartlett and Miss Lavish; the Emersons returned to hold l

lett had asked Mr. George Emerson what his profession was, and he had answered "the railway." She was very sorry that she had asked him. She had no idea that it would be such

f course it was the railway!" She could not control her mi

at her vivacious companion. "H

et me go my wick

ean

Lucy. "The Emersons won't hear, an

id not seem p

he said rather crossly. "Pouf!

ght to be with Mr

m now, and I don'

be offended. I

rather stop h

e boys have got separated from the girls. Miss Lucy, you are t

she felt indifferent. Such a one was Miss Lavish, and such for the moment was Charlotte. She wished she had

Bartlett. "Oh, I do wish Fredd

functions of enthusiasm. Lucy did not look at the view eit

said Miss Lavish. "

s that protect the frame of the tourist from damp grass or co

our white linen." She sat down heavily where the ground looked particularly moist. "Here we are, all settled delightfully. Even if my dress is thinner it will not show so much, being brown. Sit down, dear; you are

e end of five minutes Lucy departed in search of Mr. Be

ng the cushions with cigars. The miscreant, a bony young man scorched black by the

cy, after much

of the horizon. He should just think he did know where. He pressed his finger-tips to his

y. What was the Ital

uomini?" sai

ive for those noble being

lying "Has the cigar been given to you by M

, and in rather less than a quarter of a minute was ready to conduct her. Italians are born knowing the way. It would seem that the whole earth lay before them, not as a m

is common man the world was beautiful and direct. For the first time she felt the influence of Spring. His arm swep

oni uo

ring the edge of the promontory, and the view was stealing round them, but the brown network of the bushes shattered it into countless pieces. He was oc

is t

alian's ignorance is sometimes more remarkable than his knowledge. She could not make him understand that perhaps th

!" he e

of the wood. Light and beauty enveloped her. She had fallen on to a

on, now standing some six fe

ng the hillside with blue, eddying round the tree stems collecting into pools in the hollows, covering the grass with spots of azure foam.

ares, was the good man. But he was not the goo

ad fallen out of heaven. He saw radiant joy in her face, he saw the flowers beat against her

ice called, "Lucy! Lucy! Lucy!" The silence of life had be