arrogance in her character. But in manner she remained _nonchalant_
and dreamy as before, with just those occasional leaps to the surface of
passionate, or scornful, or chivalrous feeling which made her interesting.
Her devotion to her mother was plain. She espoused all her mother's
opinions with vehemence, and would defend her actions, in the family or out
of it, through thick and thin. But there were those who wondered how long
the subservience would last, supposing the girl's marriage were delayed.

As to the gossip repeated by Sir Wilfrid Bury, it referred to the latest of
Marcia's adventures. Her thoughts played with the matter, especially with
certain incidents of the Shrewsbury House ball, as she walked slowly into
the drawing-room in her mother's wake.

The drawing-room seemed to her dark and airless. Taste was not the Coryston
strong point, and this high, oblong room was covered with large Italian
pictures, some good, some indifferent, heavily framed, and hung on
wine-colored damask. A feebly false Guido Reni, "The Sacrifice of Isaac,"
held the center of one wall, making vehement claim to be just as well worth
looking at as the famous Titian opposite. The Guido had hung there since
1820, and what was good enough for the Corystons of that date was good
enough for their descendants, who were not going to admit that their
ancestors were now discredited--laughed out of court--as collectors, owing
to the labors of a few middle-aged intellectuals. The floor was held by a
number of gilt chairs and sofas covered also in wine-colored damask, or
by tables holding _objets d'art_ of the same mixed quality as the
pictures. Even the flowers, the stands of splendid azaleas and early roses
with which the room was lavishly adorned, hardly produced an impression
of beauty. Marcia, looking slowly round her with critical eyes, thought
suddenly of a bare room she knew in a Roman palace, some faded hangings in
dull gold upon the walls, spaces of light and shadow on the empty matted