d partly because they say my face suits, though I don't think I am a
bit Italian-looking. Do you think so, Stella?' Vava demanded.

Stella looked at her sister, and then remarked with a smile, 'No, I
don't think you are; at least, not the type we call Italian.' But she
privately thought the stage-manager had made a very good choice, for
Vava had improved in looks since her arrival in London, and would make a
handsome Beatrice.

'Miss Briggs says it does not matter, as none of us are Italian, nor
look it; but that, as I have a good memory and can learn quickly, I
shall be able to learn up her part. It's a lovely part, Stella, though
Miss Briggs says it's not historical at all, and that Dante never said
anything about talking to Beatrice, and she doesn't believe he ever
spoke to her; but that's nonsense. How could any man write pages and
pages of poetry about a person he had never spoken to?' demanded Vava.

'Quite well. Imagination goes a long way with poets, and I was just
wondering how you were going to act Beatrice. She does not say much in
the poem, and then only as a spirit; so you don't want clothes to fit.'

'Ah, but it is all her life before she dies; the play begins at the
party where Dante first meets Beatrice,' said Vava, who had the book of
words in her hand and was studying it.

'But you, or rather Beatrice, are only nine years old at that party. How
are you going to manage that?' demanded Stella, for Vava was a tall
girl, and had grown taller and slimmer since she had been in London.

'We can't take any notice of that; you have no imagination, Stella. How
can I make myself into a little child in the first act, and then be
grown-up in the second?' she asked impatiently.

'Then I think I should not attempt such a play; it is making a parody of
Dante's glorious poem,' protested Stella, who had studied Dante with her
father, and thought this play presumptuous.

'It's not a parody, and my opinion is that it's better than Dante's,'
declared Vava.

Stella laughed outright at this assertion.

But Vava was not crushed. 'You wait and see; it's got some lovely scenes
in it, and the stage scenery is beautifully painted by ourselves--at
least, in the school by the painting-mistress and the girls. There's the
Bridge of the Trinita at Florence, where Dante meets me and makes a
beautiful speech, and I have quite a lot to say to him there,' said
Vava.

'You ought not to have,' interposed Stella, meaning from a h