an opinion on the young girl's beauty, and, in her own fashion, she
expressed it epigrammatically. "She looks half like a Madonna and half
like a ballerina," she said.

Mr. Leavenworth and Roderick came to an understanding, and the young
sculptor good-naturedly promised to do his best to rise to his patron's
conception. "His conception be hanged!" Roderick exclaimed, after he had
departed. "His conception is sitting on a globe with a pen in her ear
and a photographic album in her hand. I shall have to conceive, myself.
For the money, I ought to be able to!"

Mrs. Light, meanwhile, had fairly established herself in Roman society.
"Heaven knows how!" Madame Grandoni said to Rowland, who had mentioned
to her several evidences of the lady's prosperity. "In such a case
there is nothing like audacity. A month ago she knew no one but her
washerwoman, and now I am told that the cards of Roman princesses are to
be seen on her table. She is evidently determined to play a great
part, and she has the wit to perceive that, to make remunerative
acquaintances, you must seem yourself to be worth knowing. You must
have striking rooms and a confusing variety of dresses, and give good
dinners, and so forth. She is spending a lot of money, and you 'll see
that in two or three weeks she will take upon herself to open the season
by giving a magnificent ball. Of course it is Christina's beauty that
floats her. People go to see her because they are curious."

"And they go again because they are charmed," said Rowland. "Miss
Christina is a very remarkable young lady."

"Oh, I know it well; I had occasion to say so to myself the other day.
She came to see me, of her own free will, and for an hour she was deeply