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247 THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY. 247 fixed day ; and with this design she was to spend at present hut few days in Florence. Mr. Bantling was to go with her to Rome, and she pointed out to Isabel that as he had been there before, as he was a military man, and as he had had a classical education he was brought up at Eton, where they study nothing but Latin, said Miss Stackpole he would be a most useful companion in the city of the Caesars. At this juncture Ealph h*d the happy idea of proposing to Isabel that she also, under his own escort, should make a pilgrimage to Rome. She expected to pass a portion of the next winter there that was very well ; but meantime there was no harm in surveying the field. There were ten days left of the beautiful month of May the most precious month of all to the true Rome-lover. Isabel would become a Rome-lover ; that was a foregone conclusion. She was provided with a well-tested companion of her own sex, whose society, thanks to the fact that she had other calls upon her sympathy, would probably not be oppressive. Madame "Merle would remain with Mrs. Touchett ; she had left Rome for the summer and would not care to return. This lady pro- fessed herself delighted to be left at peace in Florence ; she had locked up her apartment and sent her cook home to Palestrina. She urged Isabel, however, to assent to Ralph's proposal, and assured her that a good introduction to Rome was not a thing to be despised. Isabel, in truth, needed no urging, and the party of four arranged its little journey. Mrs. Touchett, on this occasion, had resigned herself to the absence of a duenna ; we have seen that she now inclined to the belief that her niece should stand alone. Isabel saw Gilbert Osmond before she started, and mentioned her intention to him. " I should like to be in Rome with you," he said ; " I should like to see you there." She hesitated a moment. " You might come, then." " But you'll have a lot of people with you." " Ah," Isabel admitted, " of course I shall not be alone." For a moment he said nothing more. " You'll like it," he went on, at last. " They have spoiled it, but you'll like it." " Ought I to dislike it, because it's spoiled 1 " she asked. " No, I think not. It has been spoiled so often. If I were to go, what should I do with my little girl 1 " " Can't you leave her at the villa '] " " I don't know that I like that though there is a very