pillow, with a happy smile curving her beautiful lips.

But Barbara tossed long on the little white bed in the opposite corner
of the room. It was difficult to go to sleep, so many thoughts crowded
upon her. Finally she resolutely set herself to recall Mr. Sumner's
words of the evening. Then, as she remembered the little lingering of
his eyes upon her own as he bade his group of listeners good night, the
glad thought came, "He knows I am trying to learn, and that I appreciate
all he is doing for me," and so her last thought was not for the new
friend the day had brought, but for Robert Sumner.




Chapter V.

Straws Show which Way the Wind Blows.

_Give these, I exhort you, their guerdon and glory
For daring so much before they well did it_.

--BROWNING.

[Illustration: SANTA MARIA NOVELLA, FLORENCE.]


It was a charming morning in early November when Mr. Sumner and his
little company of students of Florentine art gathered before the broad
steps which lead up to the entrance of Santa Maria Novella. The Italian
sky, less soft than in midsummer, gleamed brightly blue. The square