on was never weary
of offering information. It must be added that during these visits the
Countess forbade herself every form of active research; her preference
was to sit in the carriage and exclaim that everything was most
interesting. It was in this manner that she had hitherto examined the
Coliseum, to the infinite regret of her niece, who--with all the respect
that she owed her--could not see why she should not descend from the
vehicle and enter the building. Pansy had so little chance to ramble
that her view of the case was not wholly disinterested; it may be
divined that she had a secret hope that, once inside, her parents' guest
might be induced to climb to the upper tiers. There came a day when
the Countess announced her willingness to undertake this feat--a mild
afternoon in March when the windy month expressed itself in occasional
puffs of spring. The three ladies went into the Coliseum together,
but Isabel left her companions to wander over the place. She had often
ascended to those desolate ledges from which the Roman crowd used to
bellow applause and where now the wild flowers (when they are allowed)
bloom in the deep crevices; and to-day she felt weary and disposed
to sit in the despoiled arena. It made an intermission too, for the
Countess often asked more from one's attention than she gave in return;
and Isabel believed that when she was alone with her niece she let the
dust gather for a moment on the ancient scandals of the Arnide. She so
remained below therefore, while Pansy guided her undiscriminating aunt
to the steep brick staircase at the foot of which the custodian unlocks
the tall wooden gate. The great enclosure was half in shadow; the
western sun brought out the pale red tone of the great blocks of
travertine--the latent colour that is the only living element in the
immense ruin. Here and there wandered a peasant or a tourist, looking
up at the far sky-line where, in the clear stillness, a multitude of
swallows kept circling and plunging. Isabel presently became aware
that one of the other visitors, planted in the middle of the arena, had
turned his attention to her own person and was looking at her with
a certain little poise of the head which she had some weeks before
perceived to be characteristic of baffled but indestructible purpose.
Such an attitude, to-day, could belong only to Mr. Edward Rosier; and
this gentleman proved in fact to have been considering the question of
speaking to her.