Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/80

 the world better, and it seems well that we should voyage a while together. It 's on my conscience that I ought to take you to Rome, walk you through the Vatican, and then lock you up with a heap of clay. I sail on the 5th of September; can you make your preparations to start with me?"

Roderick assented to all this with an air of luxurious surrender to his friend's wisdom that expressed more than any formal pledge. "I've no preparations to make," he said with a smile, raising his arms and letting them fall as if to indicate his unencumbered condition. "What I'm to take with me I carry here!" And he tapped his forehead.

"Happy man!" murmured Rowland with a sigh, thinking of the light stowage in his own organism, in the region indicated by Roderick, and of the heavy one of bags and boxes in deposit at his banker's.

When his companion had left him he went in search of Cecilia. She was sitting at work at a shady window, and welcomed him to a low chintz-covered chair. He sat some time thoughtfully snipping wools with her scissors; he expected criticism and he was bracing himself. At last he told her of Roderick's decision and of his own part in the matter. Cecilia, besides an extreme surprise, exhibited a certain fine displeasure at his not having asked her advice.

"What would you have said then if I had?" he demanded.

"I should have said in the first place 'Oh, for pity's sake, don't carry off the person in all Northampton who most amuses me!' I should have said 46