“Any man would have been angry with you. I was, too.” Francesca sighed and sat quiet an instant. “How did you get rid of Gram? I thought you would never be able to shake that fellow off. I thought that he would come home with you and sleep here on the sofa.” Jenny laughed. “Oh no! He went with me to the Aventine and had breakfast; then he went home. I rather like him, you know.” “_Dio mio!_ Jenny, you are abnormally good. Have you not got enough to mother already, with us? Or have you fallen in love with him?” Jenny laughed again. “I don’t think there is much chance for me. I suppose he will fall in love with you, like the rest, if you are not careful.” “They all do, it seems—Heaven only knows why. But they soon get cured, and then they’re angry with me afterwards.” She sighed. They heard steps on the stairs. “That is Gunnar. I am going into my room a little. I must bathe my eyes.” She passed Heggen in the door with a short greeting as she hurried away. He shut the door and came into the room. “You are all right, I see—but so you always are. You are an extraordinary girl, Jenny. I suppose you have been working all the morning—and she?” He pointed towards Cesca’s room. “In a bad state, poor little thing.” “I saw it in the papers when I looked in at the club. Have you finished the study? Show me. It is very good.” Heggen held the picture to the light and looked at it for some time. “This part stands out beautifully. It is powerful work. Is she lying on her bed crying, do you think?” “I don’t know. She has been crying in here. She had a letter from her sister.” “If ever I meet that cad,” said Heggen, “I shall find some pretext to give him a sound thrashing.” V One afternoon Helge Gram sat in the club reading Norwegian newspapers. He was alone in the reading-room when Miss Jahrman entered. He stood up and bowed, but she came up to him with a smile and shook hands: “How are you getting on? Jenny and I have been wondering why we never see you; we were determined to come here on Saturday to see if we could find you and ask you to go out with us somewhere. Have you got rooms yet?” “No, I am sorry to say. I am still at the hotel. All the rooms I have seen are so expensive.” “But it is not cheaper at the hotel, is it? I suppose you have to pay three lire a day at least? I thought so. It is not cheap in Rome, you know. You must have rooms to the south in winter. You don’t speak Italian, of course, but why did you not ask us to help you? Jenny or I would willingly have gone with you to look for rooms.” “Thank you very much. I would not dream of troubling you about that.” “It is no trouble whatever. How are you getting on? Have you met any people?” “No. I came here on Saturday, but I did not speak to anybody. I read the papers. The day before yesterday I saw Heggen in a café on the Corso and exchanged a few words with him. I have also met two German doctors I knew in Florence, and I went with them to Via Appi one day.”