collection should in any way come near to it; and a Tuscan, from the Italian Foreign Office, to whom nobody could speak except Mr Harris Hyde Granville Gore, who did not indeed seem to enjoy the efforts of conversation which were expected of him.  The Italian, who had a handle to his name—­he was a Count Buonarosci—­took Mrs Spalding into dinner.  Mrs Spalding had been at great trouble to ascertain whether this was proper, or whether she should not entrust herself to Mr Glascock.  There were different points to be considered in the matter.  She did not quite know whether she was in Italy or in America.  She had glimmerings on the subject of her privilege to carry her own nationality into her own drawing-room.  And then she was called upon to deal between an Italian Count with an elder brother, and an English Honourable, who had no such encumbrance.  Which of the two was possessed of the higher rank?  ’I’ve found it all out, Aunt Mary,’ said Livy.  ‘You must take the Count.’  For Livy wanted to give her sister every chance.  ‘How have you found it out?’ said the aunt.  ‘You may be sure it is so,’ said Livy.

And the lady in her doubt yielded the point.  Mrs Spalding, as she walked along the passage on the Count’s arm, determined that she would learn Italian.  She would have given all Nubbly Creek to have been able to speak a word to Count Buonarosci.  To do her justice, it must be admitted that she had studied a few words.  But her courage failed her, and she could not speak them.  She was very careful, however, that Mr H. H. G. Gore was placed in the chair next to the Count.

‘We are very glad to see you here,’ said Mr Spalding, addressing himself especially to Mr Glascock, as he stood up at his own seat at the round table.  ’In leaving my own country, sir, there is nothing that I value more than the privilege of becoming acquainted with those whose historic names and existing positions are of such inestimable value to the world at large.’  In saying this, Mr Spalding was not in the least insincere, nor did his conscience at all prick him in reference to that speech at Nubbly Creek.  On both occasions he half thought as he spoke or thought that he thought so.  Unless it be on subjects especially endeared to us the thoughts of but few of us go much beyond this.

Mr Glascock, who sat between Mrs Spalding and her niece, was soon asked by the elder lady whether he had been in the States.  No; he had not been in the States.  ‘Then you must come, Mr Glascock,’ said Mrs Spalding, ’though I will not say, dwelling as we now are in the metropolis of the world of art, that we in our own homes have as much of the outer beauty of form to charm the stranger as is to be found in other lands.  Yet I think that the busy lives of men, and the varied institutions of a free country, must always have an interest peculiarly their own.’  Mr Glascock declared that he quite agreed with her, and expressed a hope that he might some day find himself in New York.