because that was impossible, it was not the less probable that he might be degraded and made miserable in his own home.  That suggested jury of British matrons was a frightful conclave to contemplate, and Caroline was disposed to believe that the verdict given in reference to herself would be adverse to her.  So she sat and meditated, and spoke not a word further to any one on the subject till she was alone with the man that she loved.

Mr Spalding at this time inhabited the ground floor of a large palace in the city, from which there was access to a garden, which at this period of the year was green, bright, and shady, and which, as being in the centre of a city, was large and luxurious.  From one end of the house there projected a covered terrace, or loggia, in which there were chairs and tables, sculptured ornaments, busts, and old monumental relics let into the wall in profusion.  It was half chamber and half garden, such an adjunct to a house as in our climate would give only an idea of cold, rheumatism, and a false romance, but under an Italian sky is a luxury daily to be enjoyed during most months of the year.  Here Mr Glascock and Caroline had passed many hours and here they were now seated, late in the evening, while all others of the family were away.  As far as regarded the rooms occupied by the American Minister, they had the house and garden to themselves, and there never could come a time more appropriate for the saying of a thing difficult to be said.  Mr Glascock had heard from his father’s physician, and had said that it was nearly certain now that he need not go down to Naples again before his marriage.  Caroline was trembling, not knowing how to speak, not knowing how to begin but resolved that the thing should be done.  ’He will never know you, Carry,’ said Mr Glascock.  ’It is, perhaps, hardly a sorrow to me, but it is a regret.’

’It would have been a sorrow, perhaps, to him had he been able to know me,’ said she, taking the opportunity of rushing at her subject.

‘Why so?  Of all human beings he was the softest-hearted.’

’Not softer-hearted than you, Charles.  But soft hearts have to be hardened.’

‘What do you mean?  Am I becoming obdurate?’

‘I am, Charles,’ she said.  ’I have got something to say to you.  What will your uncles and aunts and your mother’s relations say of me when they see me at Monkhams?’

’They will swear to me that you are charming; and then when my back is turned they’ll pick you to pieces a little among themselves.  I believe that is the way of the world, and I don’t suppose that we are to do better than others.’

’And if you had married an English girl, a Lady Augusta Somebody, would they pick her to pieces?’

‘I guess they would, as you say.’

‘Just the same?’

’I don’t think anybody escapes, as far as I can see.  But that won’t prevent their becoming your bosom friends in a few weeks’ time.’