"
"The longer, the better for me, Signorina," Apollonia replied. She
smiled at her new mistress; but when her look turned to Lady Dauntrey
she secretly "made horns" with the first and last fingers of the hand
that held the dog; the sign which Italians and Arabs use to keep off the
evil eye.
She opened doors, holding her smoky lamp high, and with the air of a
hospitable queen (such as most Italian peasant women have), she showed
to the Signorina the splendours of her domain. They were, to be sure,
but tarnished and dilapidated splendours, nevertheless Mary began to
understand even in the gloom of night how these great rooms, peopled now
with shadows, had appealed to Hannaford. She could guess what the view
from windows and garden must be like, and had she come to the house in
happier circumstances she would have looked forward to seeing
everything in morning sunshine. As it was, she wished for one thing
only: for the moment when she could be alone, to think, and write her
letter to Vanno.
Mary and her guests refused food but accepted coffee, made quickly and
well by Apollonia. They drank from cracked or chipped but beautiful cups
of old Sevres, and shivered in an immense Empire dining-room, while
Apollonia lighted fires and warmed beds in the "best rooms" upstairs,
which they had not yet mustered courage to visit. Lady Dauntrey became
more cheerful over the hot coffee, and atoned to her husband for past
taunts and reproaches by a manner of almost deprecating affection.
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