Page:Her Roman Lover (Frothingham, 1911).djvu/42

 Rome came to her sooner or later, “blacks” and “whites” alike being included within the orbit of her entertainments, where she was a predominating influence, moving her guests here and there as she chose, and introducing one to another in the American fashion, with a lack of discrimination that was becoming gradually tempered by her knowledge of a cosmopolitan world. A large part of the Roman aristocracy are, unlike the French and Austrian, friendly to strangers, and willing to be entertained by them; so they came in numbers to Mrs. Wallace’s house, where the diplomats went as a matter of course, and many Americans and English, distinguished or otherwise.

Anne looked about her with curiosity and delight upon a company assembled from many nations, full of color and possible adventure, and knew that her aunt’s success, which would also be her own, was assured by the letters she had brought and her occupancy of one of the most beautiful and best-known apartments in Rome. This evening the girl met the Japanese ambassador, a tiny, delicate figure, mirthful as a boy, and talked with a liberal monsignore, an effective and dignified figure in his purple and black robes, who had a powerful head, ardent eyes, and the manners of an admiring courtier. It was wonderful to find herself in such sur