The “den” in Florence was a sumptuous palace on the Arno. Its brother at Naples was a royal villa near Posilippo. “Why not Rome? Lady Lackington and myself mean to try Rome.” “Ah, all very well for you, my Lord, but for people of small fortune--” There was that in the expression of his Lordship's face that told Twining this vein might be followed too far, and so he stopped in time, and laughed away pleasantly. “Spicer tells me,” resumed Lord Lackington, “that Florence is quite deserted; nothing but a kind of second and third rate set of people go there. Is that so?” “Excellent people, capital society, great fun!” said Twining, in a burst of merriment. “Spicer calls them 'Snobs,' and he ought to know.” “So he ought indeed, my Lord--no one better. Admirably observed, and very just.” “He's in training again for that race that never comes off,” said his Lordship. “The first time I ever saw him--it was at Leamington--and he was performing the same farce, with hot baths and blankets, and jotting down imaginary bets in a small note-book.” “How good--capital! Your Lordship has him perfectly--you know him thoroughly--great fun! Spicer, excellent creature!” “How those fellows live is a great mystery to me. You chance upon them everywhere, in Baden or Aix in summer, in Paris or Vienna during the winter. Now, if they were amusing rogues, like that fellow I met at your house in Hampshire--” “Oh, Stockley, my Lord; rare fellow, quite a genius!” laughed Twining. “Just so--Stockley; one would have them just to help over the boredom of a country house; but this creature Spicer is as devoid of amusing gifts, as tiresome, and as worn out, as if he owned ten thousand a year.” “How good, by Jove!” cried Twining, in ecstasy. And he slapped his gaunt limbs and threw his long arms wildly about in a transport of delight. “And who are here, Twining--any of our set?” “Not a soul, my Lord; the place isn't known yet, that's the reason I came here--so quiet and so cheap, make your own terms with them. “Good fun--excellent!” “_I_ came to meet a man of business,” said his Lordship, with a strong emphasis on the pronoun. “He couldn't prolong his journey farther south, and so we agreed to rendezvous here.” “I have a little affair also to transact--a mere trifle, a nothing, in fact--with a lawyer, who promises to meet me here by the end of the month, so that we have just time to take our baths, drink the waters, and all that sort of thing, while we are waiting.” And he rubbed his hands, and laughed away again. “What a boon for my wife to learn that Lady Grace is here! She was getting so hipped with the place--not so much the place as the odious people--that I suspect she'd have left me to wait for Dunn all alone.” “Dunn! Dunn! not Davenport Dunn?” exclaimed Twining. “The very man--do you know him?” “To be sure, he's the fellow I'm waiting for. Capital fun, isn't it?” And he slapped his legs again, while he repeated the name of Dunn over and over again.