w,' he added,
'if I wish to have it.'

'No,' she said. 'You must give it up.'

'To whom?'

'To me!'

He started. 'After what I have told you, do you really wish to sleep
in that room to-morrow night?'

'I must sleep in it.'

'Are you not afraid?'

'I am horribly afraid.'

'So I should have thought, after what I have observed in you to-night.
Why should you take the room? You are not obliged to occupy it, unless
you like.'

'I was not obliged to go to Venice, when I left America,' she answered.
'And yet I came here. I must take the room, and keep the room,
until--' She broke off at those words. 'Never mind the rest,' she
said. 'It doesn't interest you.'

It was useless to dispute with her. Francis changed the subject. 'We
can do nothing to-night,' he said. 'I will call on you to-morrow
morning, and hear what you think of it then.'

They moved on again to the hotel. As they approached the door, Francis
asked if she was staying in Venice under her own name.

She shook her head. 'As your brother's widow, I am known here. As
Countess Narona, I am known here. I want to be unknown, this time, to
strangers in Venice; I am travelling under a common English name.' She
hesitated, and stood still. 'What has come to me?' she muttered to
herself. 'Some things I remember; and some I forget. I forgot
Danieli's--and now I forget my English name.' She drew him hurriedly
into the hall of the hotel, on the wall of which hung a list of
visitors' names. Running her finger slowly down the list, she pointed
to the English name that she had assumed:--'Mrs. James.'

'Remember that when you call to-morrow,' she said. 'My head is heavy.
Good night.'

Francis went back to his own hotel, wondering what the events of the
next day would bring forth. A new turn in his affairs had taken place
in his absence. As he crossed the hall, he was requested by one of the
servants to walk into the private office. The manager was waiting
there with a gravely pre-occupied manner, as if he had something
serious to say. He regretted to hear that Mr. Francis Westwick had,
like other members of the family, discovered serious sources of
discomfort in the new hotel. He had been informed in strict confidence
of Mr. Westwick's extraordinary objection to the atmosphere of the
bedroom upstairs. Without presuming to discuss the matter, he must beg
to be excused from reserving the room for Mr. Westwick after what had
happened.

Francis answered sharply,