to see you."

"Oh--yes--you could call, and of course if we were at home we should be
very glad to see you. But that would only occupy about half an hour of
one day. That isn't much."

"I mean that I should go to Florence simply for the sake of seeing you,
and seeing you often--all the time, in fact."

"Dear me! That would be a great deal, wouldn't it? I thought you meant
just to call, don't you know?"

"I'm in earnest, though it sounds very funny, I dare say," said
Johnstone.

"It sounds rather mad," answered Clare, laughing a little. "I hope you
won't do anything of the kind, because I wouldn't see you more than
once or twice. I'd have headaches and colds and concerts--all the things
one has when one isn't at home to people. But my mother would be
delighted. She likes you tremendously, you know, and you could go about
to galleries together and read Ruskin and Browning--do you know the
Statue and the Bust? And you could go and see Casa Guidi, where the
Brownings lived, and you could drive up to San Miniato, and then, you
know, you could drive up again and read more Browning and more Ruskin.
I'm sure you would enjoy it to any extent. But I should have to go
through a terrific siege of colds and headaches. It would be rather hard
on me."

"And harder on me," observed Brook, "and quite fearful for Mrs.
Bowring."

"Oh no! She would enjoy every minute of it. You forget that she likes
you."

"You are afraid I should forget that you don't."

"I almost--oh, a long way from quite! I almost liked you yesterday when
you thrashed the carter and tied him up so neatly. It was beautifully
done--all those knots! I suppose you learned them on board of the yacht,
didn't you?"

"I've yachted a good deal," said Brook.

"Generally with that party?" inquired Clare.

"No. That was the first time. My father has an old tub he goes about
in, and we sometimes go together."

"Is he coming here in his 'old tub'?"

"Oh no--he's lent her to a fellow who has taken her off to Japan, I
believe."

"Japan! Is it safe? In an 'old tub'!"

"Oh, well--that's a way of talking, you know. She's a good enough boat,
you know. My father went to New York in her, last year. She's a steamer,
you know. I hate steamers. They are such dirty noisy things! But of
course if you are going a long way, they are the only things."

He spoke in a jerky way, annoyed and discomfited by her forcing the
conversation off the track. Though he was aware that he