given, and therefore we were obliged to trust to Mackinnon's
accuracy for an account of it.

She stood on very high ground indeed, he said, at first refusing to
hear anything that he had to say on the matter. "The foolish young
man," she declared, "was below her anger and below her contempt."

"He is not the first Irishman that has been made indiscreet by
beauty," said Mackinnon.

"A truce to that," she replied, waving her hand with an air of
assumed majesty. "The incident, contemptible as it is, has been
unpleasant to me. It will necessitate my withdrawal from Rome."

"Oh, no, Mrs. Talboys; that will be making too much of him."

"The greatest hero that lives," she answered, "may have his house
made uninhabitable by a very small insect." Mackinnon swore that
those were her own words. Consequently a sobriquet was attached to
O'Brien of which he by no means approved. And from that day we
always called Mrs. Talboys "the hero."

Mackinnon prevailed at last with her, and she did not leave Rome.
She was even induced to send a message to O'Brien, conveying her
forgiveness. They shook hands together with great eclat in Mrs.
Mackinnon's drawing-room; but I do not suppose that she ever again
offered to him sympathy on the score of his matrimonial troubles.