Thus, under this foreign but friendly Northern roof, did the father and daughter meet--children of the South and of its hot impulses, eager quickness, passionate loves and hates--both beaten by circumstances into a demeanour and a conduct utterly different from that which would have been natural to them; both, in spite of all the past, in spite of all that had been lived out and battled through by them, in spite of every attracting link of sorrow and suffering, ‘strangers yet.’ CHAPTER XVIII. The visit was only as long as Fulvia had said it would be. Nothing that Minna could say prevailed upon her to stay two nights instead of only one. She passed the evening with her friend, and partly with Signor Oriole--that is, he dined with them, and joined them afterwards in the drawing-room for a short time, but afterwards went, as usual, to his study, to Minna’s great disappointment. She had indulged in vague, dim ideas and hopes on the subject of this meeting, desiring that it should, somehow or other, bring Fulvia and her father together. It had apparently done nothing of the kind. They were civil to one another, amiable, pleasant, and nothing more. Neither seemed oppressed by the other’s company, but, on the other hand, neither seemed anxious to be left alone with the other, or to be much together. It was perhaps quite natural, Minna owned with a sigh, as she saw Signor Giuseppe withdraw, leaving her and Fulvia together. ‘I think you will be awfully tired, Fulvia, if you return to-morrow afternoon.’ Fulvia laughed. ‘Tired. I am never tired. I am very strong,’ she said, raising her head and throwing her shoulders back. ‘To make fatigue an excuse for staying would be ridiculous indeed.’ On the following morning she went with Minna and her niece Rhoda, a rather awkward, ‘leggy’-looking girl, with a promise of future good looks, on an expedition to the Hall, to look at it and judge of its suitability for their purpose. She said little, but that little was favourable. Coming back to lunch, she expressed herself satisfied with all she saw of it and its appurtenances. The solicitor of the family who wished to let it was in London, and from him she could obtain all necessary particulars. ‘I shall give my husband a good account of it,’ she said. ‘I shall try to persuade him to come. And if we come, we shall come soon.’ When lunch was over, at which Signor Giuseppe was again present, the two women went together to Minna’s drawing-room, where they were alone. Rhoda and Signor Giuseppe, who were the firmest of friends, went away, first to do a Latin lesson, and then to take a long country walk. Fulvia looked thoughtful as she seated herself, and said: ‘Though he is so changed, he is just the same as ever. He makes all the young people happy who come near him. I see it is the same with that niece of yours. I could find it in my heart to envy her.’