_Che vuole?_ indeed! Minna felt there was no reply to it. She let the _padrona_ go, without having in any way committed herself on the subject of her own future course, only in her mind was the very fixed resolution that she would not at any price remain as the tenant of the younger Vincenzini, who were marked examples of the deterioration of a good stock. The wife was a colourless creature, given to flopping about the house in a dressing-gown and curl-papers, and reading greasy-looking paper-backed novels. The only time when she was tidy was when she was dressed in florid splendour for the theatre, or for some other entertainment. Her mind was not too far removed from household things to make her above examining any box or drawer which might have been incautiously left unfastened. The husband was Minna’s peculiar detestation for many reasons, and she often wondered how the excellent Signora Vincenzini came to have such a child. The worthy pair were admirably adapted to cheat, rob, and neglect some innocent young Englishman, not up to their ways, or some _deputato_ from the country, who would need only bed and early cup of coffee in the house, and who would take his more serious _colazione_ and dinner at some restaurant in close vicinity to the Parliamentary building in Monte Citorio. Minna resolved at once that she would not be the woman to prevent them from securing such a prey. Her chief object must be to get out of these rooms, and into others, before the dowager signora should have taken her departure. Minna was quite able to defend herself in any contest as to agreements and prices; she knew exactly when to threaten the extortioner with the _Questura_, and when gracefully to ignore the fact that she was being cheated; but she was not fond of a row simply for its own sake, and was morally convinced that she would have to encounter one should she remain a day in the house after the departure of the present _padrona_. After giving an hour or more to vexed consideration of the subject, she at last rose, and with a heavy sigh went to her bedroom, put on her outdoor things, and went forth to take her usual walk to her studio. It was now late in November, and the rainy season had, more or less, set in; but up to a week or ten days before it had been what dwellers in less-favoured climes would call summer--high, hot summer. Minna thought of it every now and then with a sigh of regret, and a great longing for the skies and the atmosphere and the wonderful scintillating glory of the heat which she had revelled in. In such weather the great dark palaces are a joy; the marble halls are all one asks for; the sculptures are instinct with life; one expects them every moment to move and speak: but no, they remain there, keeping their secrets fast, till the cold of winter sets in and they are once more statues--marble statues, even to the most enthusiastic.