Page:Her Roman Lover (Frothingham, 1911).djvu/291



HE morning passed, and by the sunny wall near the ilex trees Anne and Gino reached the sum of the world’s rapture. Then they went back to the city, to the broad and modern Via Veneto with its circle of new hotels, and met Mr. Warren, who had just returned from his inspection of the golf links.

Anne cast a swift instinctive glance about the entrance of her hotel, and finding Jack was not there, she presented Gino to her father with a light heart and some pride, for she thought the man she loved had never looked better. In growing thin his appearance had become more than ever that of a man belonging to a romantic and distinguished race, and she knew that her father’s slender patriotism would enable him to take delight in a son-in-law of so foreign an aspect.

They went upstairs together in the “lift,” and Mr. Warren insisted that Gino stay to luncheon, which he ordered served in his private sitting-room. He also suggested champagne in honor of the occasion, but the Italian drew Anne aside.