Page 646 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

and, after meditating a moment, wrote a few words. It is our
privilege to look over her shoulder, and if we exercise it we
may read the brief query: ‘Could I see you this evening for a
few moments on a very important matter?’ Henrietta add-
ed that she should start on the morrow for Rome. Armed
with this little document she approached the porter, who
now had taken up his station in the doorway, and asked if
Mr. Goodwood were at home. The porter replied, as porters
always reply, that he had gone out about twenty minutes be-
fore; whereupon Henrietta presented her card and begged
it might be handed him on his return. She left the inn and
pursued her course along the quay to the severe portico
of the Uffizi, through which she presently reached the en-
trance of the famous gallery of paintings. Making her way
in, she ascended the high staircase which leads to the upper
chambers. The long corridor, glazed on one side and dec-
orated with antique busts, which gives admission to these
apartments, presented an empty vista in which the bright
winter light twinkled upon the marble floor. The gallery is
very cold and during the midwinter weeks but scantily vis-
ited. Miss Stackpole may appear more ardent in her quest of
artistic beauty than she has hitherto struck us as being, but
she had after all her preferences and admirations. One of
the latter was the little Correggio of the Tribune-the Virgin
kneeling down before the sacred infant, who lies in a litter
of straw, and clapping her hands to him while he delight-
edly laughs and crows. Henrietta had a special devotion to
this intimate scene-she thought it the most beautiful pic-
ture in the world. On her way, at present, from New York to

646 The Portrait of a Lady