He
remembered how Hoffmeir had discovered the girl drawing water from an
old broken fountain he had gone out to sketch; and the difficulties
that had to be overcome before she could be persuaded to pose. The
Capri maidens are brought up to be averse to posing, and Ninitta had
not long enough breathed the air of Rome to have overcome the
prejudices of her youth. He reflected, with a bitterness rendered vague
by a certain strange impersonality of his mood, how different would
have been his life had Hoffmeir been unable to overcome the girl's
scruples. He wondered whether the fat old aunt, and the greasy, good-
natured little priest with whom she had taken counsel, would have urged
Ninitta to take up the life of a model, could they have foreseen all
the results to which this course was to lead in the end.
Then, with a sudden stinging consciousness, the thought came of all
that her decision had meant to his life. The old question whether he
had done right in marrying Ninitta forced itself upon him as if it were
some enemy springing up from ambush. He raised his eyes, and his glance
met that of Mrs. Greyson.
"It is no use, Helen," he broke out, impulsively, "we must talk
frankly. It is idle to suppose that we can go on in an artificial
pretence that we have nothing to say."
She put up her hand appealingly.
"Only do not drive me away again," she pleaded.
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