"Capital bits about the place, capital bits," he said cheerfully. "Nice tone of colour, plaster peeling off, fine arch, acanthus leaves against the stone--plenty to do here, and no mistake." As they went into the house the sisters met them in the hall; Bice paler, and without the radiance of the day in Florence, but quiet and smiling. She gave one long and rather wistful look at Phillis, and Phillis noticed and flushed slightly under it. "Will you come to the little room?" she said. "My mother is there, for the steps outside the window are cooler than any other place at this time of day." She had scarcely spoken to Jack, and when she moved away he followed her with a dissatisfied feeling. As they passed through the silence of the great rooms he could not help contrasting this day with the first on which he had seen her, when he had been alone with her, and her frank determination had made him smile. Miss Preston, who was close to him now, was a very unwelcome substitute. "It is too distressing," she was saying in a sharp undertone. "I have always known that the Italians had no idea of what was fitting, but not a carpet, not so much as a hearth-rug!" "How would it answer to speculate in a few, and to bring them out for the good of this benighted people?" asked Jack dreamily. Meanwhile Mrs Leyton, who liked it all, was genuinely enthusiastic. "What a room for a dance! You _do_ dance here, don't you?" "Oh, yes! Sometimes Kitty and I dance together, or the Moronis come over, and then we are more," said Bice simply. "If you would like it, by-and-by we can wheel in the piano, and I will play for you." But seeing an irrepressible smile in Mrs Leyton's face, she coloured and said hotly, "You think us foolish--you don't do such things in England!" It was Phillis who came to the rescue, eagerly and yet a little shyly. "If we don't, it is not that you are foolish, only wiser than we are, and lighter-hearted. It takes a great deal to make us dance in England--" "Lights and music and a month's preparation, and then enough people to prevent the risk of anyone being seen," added Jack. "Your plan is much the most sensible, Miss Masters. But you see we have all been brought up to think it a serious matter, and so for the moment you shocked our prejudices." But Bice was vexed. It always vexed her that anything, however slight, should mark her as un-English in her ways. She walked gravely through the other rooms holding her head with a little haughtiness. It passed, however, directly they had joined her mother and Oliver Trent in the smaller room--she was watching Ibbetson and Phillis.