Page:Her Roman Lover (Frothingham, 1911).djvu/33

 Etiquette demanded that he should talk to the married woman, and he did so; though he looked frequently at the young girl who sat silently a little in the shadow. It was not usual for American girls to be silent and sit in the shadow, and Curatulo had known many Americans. He felt that she was watching him, but felt it without embarrassment, and talked quietly to her aunt in the almost perfect English spoken by so many Romans.

“You have here a charming apartment,” he said. “I do not know of another at once so beautiful, so dignified, and so like a home. There was no comfort in Roman rooms until Americans and English came to live among us.”

“Do you not complain that there are too many Americans among you?” asked Mrs. Garrison.

The Italian looked from one to the other of his hostesses with a slight and friendly smile. “Madame, you will find some here who are not—as yourselves.”

“I suppose you know them all?”

“All? No, madame, I am not so much sought after as that. Some—yes.”

“I have been hearing a great deal about your Roman world, American, English, and otherwise. Do you advise me to introduce this child to it?”