Mrs. Charrington arranged herself in her beloved apartment again with a mind at rest, and with the profound conviction that Minna was perfectly well able to get on without her. They saw each other often, but were perfectly independent of one another. Minna had never saddled herself with any kind of chaperon or companion. She had character and will, and was fond of much solitude. From that time she had lived on in Rome without let or hindrance. It had been practically her home. She had lived there in all seasons: hot and cold, summer and winter--while the hordes of the _Forestieri_ overran it, when it was empty of almost all save its native population, or those who knew it and loved it as well as if they had been born within its bounds. Here, in Rome, she had recovered her balance, her health of mind and body, after the great stroke which had smitten her down; here she had worked, she had hoped, and aspired; studied and despaired and hoped again; she felt herself an integral part of the place. For the last three years she had considered herself very happily situated as to dwelling, in her two or three pleasant rooms, in a quiet street in the purlieus of Piazza di Spagna, with Madame Vincenzini as _padrona_, and not a thought or a care as respected housekeeping to trouble her. Now and then, it is true, she had said to herself: ‘It is too good to last.’ This morning the prophecy had been fulfilled--the blow had fallen. Signora Vincenzini had come to tell her that she had at last decided to give up the cares of housekeeping and go to live with her daughter, who was married to a well-to-do draper at Milano. The house and its business would be carried on by her son Edoardo and his wife Amelia, and the signora would find everything to go exactly as it always had done--her comfort being the main study in life of the younger Vincenzini, as it had been of their mother--_ecco!_ ‘I am very sorry, Signora Vincenzini,’ was all, or nearly all, that Minna said. ‘And so am I, signora--sorry to break our connection, which has always been so pleasant and so smooth--no disputes, no disagreements. _Ma, che vuole?_’--with a shrug, expressive of everything that could be said upon the subject.