“This is just the kind of beauty he would admire,” thought Hulbert, “something out of the common--a pale, spiritual beauty--not dependent upon colouring, or even upon regularity of feature--the kind of thing one calls soul, not having found a better name for it.” They went in to dinner presently, Captain Hulbert and Isola, Mr. Colfox and Allegra. The table was a small oval, at which five people made a snug little party. There was a central mass of white chrysanthemums, a cheerful glow of coloured Venetian glass, delicatest pink and jade-green, under the light of a hanging lamp. John Hulbert looked round him with a pleased expression, taking in the flowers, the glass, the cream-white china, the lamplight, everything; and then the two fair young faces, one pale and pensive, the other aglow with the delight of life, eagerly expectant of new ideas. They talked of the _Vendetta_ and the places at which she had touched lately. Captain Hulbert had spent his summer on the Eastern Liguria, between Genoa and Civita Vecchia. “Wasn’t it the wrong time of year for Italy?” asked Mr. Colfox. “No, it is the season of seasons in the land of the sun. If you want to enjoy a southern country, go there in the summer. The south is made for summer, her houses are built for hot weather, her streets are planned for shade; her wines, her food, her manners and customs have all been made for summer-time--not for winter. If you want to know Italy at her worst go there in cold weather.” “Where did you leave Lord Lostwithiel?” Disney asked presently. “I left him nowhere. He left me to rove about Southern Europe--left me on his way to Carinthia. He is like the wandering Jew. He used to be mad about yachting; but he got sick of the _Vendetta_ all of a sudden, and handed her over to me. Very generous on his part; but the boat is something of a white elephant for a man of my small means. I wanted him to sell her. Wouldn’t hear of it. To let her. Not to be thought of. ‘I’ll lend her to you,’ he said, ‘and you shall keep her as long as you like--sink her, if you like--provided you don’t go down in her. She is not a lucky boat.’” “Have you sailed her long?” “Nearly a year, and I love her as if she were bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh. Let us all go for a sail to-morrow, Mrs. Disney--to Mevagissey or thereabouts. We could do a little fishing. It will be capital fun. What do you say, Miss Leland?” “I should adore it,” said Allegra, beaming at him. “The sea is my passion--and I think it is my sister’s passion too. We are a kind of amphibious creatures, living more on water than on land. We venture as far as we dare in a row-boat--but oh, that is such a little way.” “I’m afraid that some day you will venture so far that you won’t be able to get back again, and will find yourselves drifting away to America,” said her brother. Isola answered never a word, until Captain Hulbert addressed her pointedly for the second time.