He said nothing of
this, afterward, but he could not forget; and when Mary half guiltily
praised Lady Dauntrey's warmth of heart and real affection, he was even
more glad than before to take the girl away. He was glad, too, that
Angelo and Marie would meet her for the first time at the Winters', not
in the Dauntrey menage.
To-day he did not dash off in a taxi to Cap Martin; but having taken
Mary and a small instalment of her luggage to the Winters' apartment,
sheer joy of life urged him to walk to his brother's. He was so happy
that he felt like a mountain spring let loose in wind and sunshine,
after being long pent up underground.
A short cut through the glimmering olive grove of the Cap led toward the
Villa Mirasole, and plunging into the gray-green gloom he came suddenly
upon the cure and two little acolytes, the boys robed in white and
scarlet. Their figures moving under the arbour of old trees were like
red and silver poppies blown by the wind, or wonderful tropical birds
astray in the woods: and a glint of sunshine striking the censer was a
thin chain of gold linking it to the sky.
To meet this little procession astonished Vanno, but the cure turned to
smile at him without surprise. "Well met!" he said. "We are on our way
to bless the villa. Last night after you went I received a letter from
the Princess asking us to come this morning, as they are now quite
settled. So here we are, these children and I. And I hoped that you
would be lunching with your brother and sister-in-law, for it is a
pretty ceremony, the blessing.
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