Mr. Sumner said they must not stay long, for this was not the object of
the day. Since, however, Fra Angelico was to be their next subject of
study, he wished them to know all about him they possibly could before
going to San Marco to really study his pictures.

Lingering on the terrace outside, they looked at the lovely Villa Landor
close at hand, where the English poet, Walter Savage Landor, spent
several years. Here Malcom quoted, in a quietly impressive way:--

"From France to Italy my steps I bent,
And pitcht at Arno's side my household tent.
Six years the Medicean Palace held
My wandering Lares; then they went afield,
Where the hewn rocks of Fiesole impend
O'er Doccia's dell, and fig and olive blend."

"How did you come to know that?" asked Margery, the usual poetry quoter.

"I didn't have to go far for it. I came across it in my 'Hare's
Florence,' and I rather think the quaint fancy of the _Lares_ 'going
afield' caught my attention so that I cannot lose the words."

"It is easier to think how one must write poetry in such a lovely spot
than how one could help it," said Bettina, with shining eyes.

"Or could help painting pictures," added Barbara. "Just look at the
colors of sky, hills, and city. No wonder Fra Angelico thought of angels
with softly glittering wings and dressed in exquisite pinks and violets,
when he lived here day after day."