where
they study nothing but Latin and Whyte-Melville, said Miss Stackpole--he
would be a most useful companion in the city of the Caesars. At this
juncture Ralph had the happy idea of proposing to Isabel that she also,
under his own escort, should make a pilgrimage to Rome. She expected
to pass a portion of the next winter there--that was very well; but
meantime there was no harm in surveying the field. There were ten days
left of the beautiful month of May--the most precious month of all
to the true Rome-lover. Isabel would become a Rome-lover; that was a
foregone conclusion. She was provided with a trusty companion of her
own sex, whose society, thanks to the fact of other calls on this lady's
attention, would probably not be oppressive. Madame Merle would remain
with Mrs. Touchett; she had left Rome for the summer and wouldn't
care to return. She professed herself delighted to be left at peace
in Florence; she had locked up her apartment and sent her cook home to
Palestrina. She urged Isabel, however, to assent to Ralph's proposal,
and assured her that a good introduction to Rome was not a thing to
be despised. Isabel in truth needed no urging, and the party of four
arranged its little journey. Mrs. Touchett, on this occasion, had
resigned herself to the absence of a duenna; we have seen that she
now inclined to the belief that her niece should stand alone. One of
Isabel's preparations consisted of her seeing Gilbert Osmond before she
started and mentioning her intention to him.

"I should like to be in Rome with you," he commented. "I should like to
see you on that wonderful ground."

She scarcely faltered. "You might come then."

"But you'll have a lot of people with you."

"Ah," Isabel admitted, "of course I shall not be alone."

For a moment he said nothing more. "You'll like it," he went on at last.
"They've spoiled it, but you'll rave about it."

"Ought I to dislike it because, poor old dear--the Niobe of Nations, you
know--it has been spoiled?" she asked.

"No, I think not. It has been spoiled so often," he smiled. "If I were
to go, what should I do with my little girl?"

"Can't you leave her at the villa?"

"I don't know that I like that--though there's a very good old woman who
looks after her. I can't afford a governess."

"Bring her with you then," said Isabel promptly.

Mr. Osmond looked grave. "She has been in Rome all winter, at her
convent; and she's too young to make journeys of pleasur