“But perhaps you would rather not?”

“I'm sorry — if you could manage without it, I think I would rather not.”

The elder ladies exchanged glances, not of disapproval; it is suitable that a girl should feel deeply.

“It is I who am sorry,” said Miss Lavish. “literary hacks are shameless creatures. I believe there's no secret of the human heart into which we wouldn't pry.”

She marched cheerfully to the fountain and back, and did a few calculations in realism. Then she said that she had been in the Piazza since eight o'clock collecting material. A good deal of it was unsuitable, but of course one always had to adapt. The two men had quarrelled over a five-franc note.