"
"No. I believe she would take any one. Right up to the
last, when her boxes were packed, she was 'playing' the
chinless curate. Both the curates are chinless, but hers
had the dampest hands. I came on them in the Park. They
were speaking of the Pentateuch."
"My dear boy! If possible, she has got worse and
worse. It was your idea of Italian travel that saved us!"
Philip brightened at the little compliment. "The odd
part is that she was quite eager--always asking me for
information; and of course I was very glad to give it. I
admit she is a Philistine, appallingly ignorant, and her
taste in art is false. Still, to have any taste at all is
something. And I do believe that Italy really purifies and
ennobles all who visit her. She is the school as well as
the playground of the world. It is really to Lilia's credit
that she wants to go there."
"She would go anywhere," said his mother, who had heard
enough of the praises of Italy. "I and Caroline Abbott had
the greatest difficulty in dissuading her from the Riviera."
"No, Mother; no. She was really keen on Italy. This
travel is quite a crisis for her." He found the situation
full of whimsical romance: there was something half
attractive, half repellent in the thought of this vulgar
woman journeying to places he loved and revered. Why should
she not be transfigured? The same had happened to the Goths.
Mrs. Herriton did not believe in romance nor in
transfiguration, nor in parallels from history, nor in
anything else that may disturb domestic life.
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