Ragna Part 14

"At least one hears so. What is it, obstinacy or propriety as personified by your compatriots?"

"In this case it would amount to the same."

"Not in the least; obstinacy is hopeless, but Mrs. Grundy may be got around."

"How so?" asked Ragna.

"In the first place, there is no reason at all why Mrs. Grundy should become aware of my existence--in the second place, there are ways of placating that worthy dame. I know something of that," he smiled to himself reminiscently. "However, that is beside the point,--prevention is better than cure, besides being simpler. No, little friend," he emphasized the word, "let our friendship be free from outside interference--let us keep it to our two selves."

Ragna thought that too delicate to hint of their difference in station, he was taking this way of urging on her the private character of their acquaintanceship,--of telling her that he did not care to be thrust into a bourgeois _milieu_. That he should desire to prolong the chance renewal of their comradeship beyond the hour, flattered her, and she was too innocent-minded and too accustomed to the free intercourse between northern men and maidens to see any real harm in acceding to his suggestion. "Concealment," she told herself, "did not necessarily imply deceit, so why expose herself to the curiosity of Astrid and Estelle Hagerup, why hedge about this unexpected adventure with the formality that must of necessity follow on disclosure, when she might so easily keep it to herself?" Quite unconsciously she was actuated by a slight jealousy of Astrid; in spite of herself, the a.s.sured triumph of Astrid's career as symbolised in her engagement, the consequence it gave her in the eyes of others, rankled in Ragna's spirit. The thought that a prince sought her friendship raised her in her own eyes and gave her a sort of moral vertigo. If Mirko had shown the slightest sign of remembering that he had once kissed her, her pride would have been up in arms to defend her, but he seemed to remember her only as a merry comrade and it was as such that he sought her society. He saw her hesitation and pressed his point.

"Let me show you the charm of Italy, you will never learn it alone.

Italy to be understood must be seen through two pairs of eyes--and you can always dismiss me the minute you are tired of me. I should so like to show you Rome,--the Rome I love--There is no reason why anyone should know, you have told me yourself that you go about alone. You don't know how useful I can make myself if I try!"

Ragna laughed.

"I confess you convey more the impression of a 'lily of the field,' than of an exponent of the beauty of utility!"

"Oh, but you've never seen me really hard at work! Nor has anyone else, for the matter of that," he added to himself.

"Then what is it, exactly, you expect to do for me?"

"I shall be your guide, philosopher and friend. '_Sous les remparts de Rome et sous ses vastes plaines!_'" he declaimed, drawing himself up.

Ragna's eyes sparkled mischievously,

"I believe I should make a better cicerone than you, if it comes to that!"

"Oh, that is quite beside the point! It is unspeakably barbarian to insist on guide-book accuracy. I shall supply what is much more important: the atmosphere."

"That is what Froken Hagerup says she is absorbing."

"She will never know anything about it. Haven't I told you it takes two to see it?"

"How so? One to pour it out and one to drink it in?"

"I didn't remember you so flippant--have you lost all respect for your elders?"

"The child is ready to learn," said Ragna, a.s.suming an expression of becoming meekness. Indeed she hardly recognised her sedate self in this new and agreeable sensation of buoyancy.

"Now," said Prince Mirko, changing his tone, "where shall I meet you again? This afternoon--"

"Is out of the question; I must go out with Fru Bjork and Astrid."

"Then to-morrow morning meet me at the entrance to the Palatino."

"But I haven't said that I would come."

"Oh, yes, you will."

"You take too much for granted."

"I don't think so."

"Then I shan't come," said Ragna, nettled by his air of complacent certainty.

"I shall be there, and we shall see what we shall see," was his calm rejoinder.

They had reached the Piazza Colonna, and Mirko paused, hat in hand.

"I shall come no further--until to-morrow, then!" He turned and left her without waiting for a reply. Ragna watched his lithe figure as he strode easily across the open s.p.a.ce. She felt dissatisfied with herself and angry with him for this somewhat cavalier leave-taking, and his confident a.s.sumption that she would do as he said.

"What does he take me for?" she asked herself as she sped with rapid steps towards her belated luncheon. "I shall not go to meet him, no I shall not."

She entered the dining-room of the pension, flushed and breathless from the stairs, and found it nearly empty, most of the guests having already finished. Fru Bjork, who liked to take things easily, was still busy with a slice of cold meat, and Astrid picked daintily at an orange with slender fingers.

"Wherever have you been, so long, Ragna?" she asked.

"Did you get the photographs in the Corso?"

"Yes,--or at least no," answered Ragna in some confusion. "It was such a lovely morning I went for a walk instead. I thought I would leave the photographs till you could come with me to choose them." Lying did not come easily to her, and her awkwardness would have betrayed her at once to a keen observer, but Fru Bjork was too un.o.bservant to notice it and Astrid felt confused herself, owing to her failure to be ready to go out as she had promised.

Ragna sat down in her place, removing her gloves as she did so. She poured herself a gla.s.s of water, but her hand shook and the water streamed over the table cloth. Fru Bjork, seeing it, said kindly,

"My dear, you should not run up the stairs so fast,--it is bad for the heart. You are too young to think about such things, but when you are my age you will know."

Ragna blushed, thinking of the real reason of her excitement, and the good lady continued anxiously:

"And how flushed your face is, my dear! Oh really, really, you must be more careful!"

She was interrupted by Ragna's other neighbour, an old Swedish lady, whose long nose seemed to rest on her chin and that again on her voluminous bosom tightly sheathed in striped silk, and adorned by a cameo brooch and a frill of lace that had seen fresher days. She laid her mittened hand on Ragna's arm, and said:

"My sweet one, will you choose an orange, the very nicest one, for me?

My poor eyes are so bad that I am afraid to trust them." She had drawn the fruit dish over to her and appeared to be trying the efficacy of her nose in selecting fruit.

Ragna picked out an orange at random and laid it on the lady's plate,--the interruption was not unwelcome to her.

"Ah, that is very nice indeed, my dear. Thank you so much! And are you quite sure it is the very best? Well then I know you will like to peel it for me!"

Astrid leant across the table, saying,

"I'll peel it for you while Ragna eats her luncheon."

"Thank you, my dear," said the old lady, a little stiffly.

"You are very kind, but I think the other young lady would have done it more carefully. Young folk are so apt to be inconsiderate, nowadays!"

She sighed heavily. Presently she addressed herself to Fru Bjork.

"Don't you think that young people are apt to be inconsiderate nowadays?" she inquired raising her voice. Astrid winked at Ragna; the old lady was their pet antipathy; Astrid had christened her the "Old Woman of the Sea." She always came to the table first and left it last, and managed to keep her neighbours busily employed most of the time.