But inside,
in the spacious, rather bare rooms, it is cooler; and in one of these,
at the farther end, stands a young man in front of a piano, striking a
chord from time to time, and exercising a voice that does not seem to
have lost much of its _timbre_; while there is an exceedingly pretty,
gentle-eyed, rather foreign-looking young lady engaged in putting
flowers on the central table, which is neatly and primly laid out for
four.
[Illustration: "_'I have an extremely important letter to send off.'_"]
"Come, Leo," she says, "is it not enough? You are in too great a hurry,
I believe. Are you jealous of Mr. Doyle? Do you wish to go back at once?
No, no; we must get Mr. Mangan and his bride to make a long stay, before
we go over with them to the big towns on the mainland. Will you go out
and see if the _Risposta_ is visible yet."
"What splendid weather for Maurice and Francie, isn't it, Ntoniella?"
said he (for there are other pet names besides the familiar Nina for any
one called Antonia). "I wish we could have had our wedding-day along
with theirs. Well, at least we will have our honeymoon trip along with
them; and we shall have to be their guides, you know, in Venice and Rome
and Florence, for neither of them knows much Italian.
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