know him, Mr. Griggs?" she said, as they all rose to leave the
room.

"Yes," he answered, "as one man knows another."

"What does that mean?" asked Francesca, moving towards the door to lead
the way.

"It does not mean much," replied the young man, with curious ambiguity.

He was very gentle in his manner, and spoke in a low voice and rather
diffidently. She looked at him as though mentally determining to renew
the question at some other time. Her first impression was that of a sort
of duality about the man, as she found the possibility of a double
meaning in his answer. His magnificent frame seemed to belong to one
person, his voice and manner to another. Both might be good in their
way, but her curiosity was excited by the side which was the less
apparent.

They all went through the house till they came to a door which divided
the inhabited part from the hall in which Reanda was working. She
knocked gently upon it with her knuckles, and then smiled as she saw
Gloria looking at her.

"We keep it locked," she said. "The masons come in the morning to lay on
the stucco. One never trusts those people. Signor Reanda keeps the key
of this door."

The artist opened from within, and stood aside to let the party pass. He
started perceptibly when he first saw Gloria. As a boy he had seen Maria
Braccio more than once before she had entered the convent, and he was
struck by the girl's strong resemblance to her. Francesca, following
Gloria, saw his movement of surprise, and attributed it merely to
admiration or astonishment such as she had felt herself a quarter of an
hour earlier. She smiled a little as she went by, and Reanda knew that
the smile was for him because he had shown surprise. He understood the
misinterpretation, and resented it a little.

But she knew Reanda well, and before ten minutes had passed she had
convinced herself that he was repelled rather than attracted by the
young girl, in spite of the latter's undisguised admiration of his work.
It was not mere unintelligent enthusiasm, either, and he might well have
been pleased and flattered by her unaffected praise.

She was interested, too, in the technical mechanics of fresco-painting,
which she had never before been able to see at close quarters.
Everything interested Gloria, and especially everything connected with
art. As soon as they had all spoken their first words of compliment and
appreciation, she entered into conversation with the painter, askin