This was an immense point gained; I foresaw that it would
constitute my whole leverage in my relations with the two ladies.
When I asked Miss Tita how I was to manage at present to find
my way up she replied with an access of that sociable shyness
which constantly marked her manner.

"Perhaps you can't. I don't see--unless I should go with you."
She evidently had not thought of this before.

We ascended to the upper floor and visited a long succession of
empty rooms. The best of them looked over the garden; some of the others
had a view of the blue lagoon, above the opposite rough-tiled housetops.
They were all dusty and even a little disfigured with long neglect,
but I saw that by spending a few hundred francs I should be able
to convert three or four of them into a convenient habitation.
My experiment was turning out costly, yet now that I had all
but taken possession I ceased to allow this to trouble me.
I mentioned to my companion a few of the things that I should put in,
but she replied rather more precipitately than usual that I might
do exactly what I liked; she seemed to wish to notify me that the
Misses Bordereau would take no overt interest in my proceedings.
I guessed that her aunt had instructed her to adopt this tone, and I
may as well say now that I came afterward to distinguish perfectly
(as I believed) between the speeches she made on her own responsibility
and those the old lady imposed upon her. She took no notice of the unswept
condition of the rooms and indulged in no explanations nor apologies.
I said to myself that this was a sign that Juliana and her niece
(disenchanting idea!) were untidy persons, with a low Italian standard;
but I afterward recognized that a lodger who had forced an entrance
had no locus standi as a critic. We looked out of a good