Page 744 - the-portrait-of-a-lady

and enter the building. Pansy had so little chance to ramble
that her view of the case was not wholly disinterested; it may
be divined that she had a secret hope that, once inside, her
parents’ guest might be induced to climb to the upper tiers.
There came a day when the Countess announced her will-
ingness to undertake this feat-a mild afternoon in March
when the windy month expressed itself in occasional puffs of
spring. The three ladies went into the Coliseum together, but
Isabel left her companions to wander over the place. She had
often ascended to those desolate ledges from which the Ro-
man crowd used to bellow applause and where now the wild
flowers (when they are allowed) bloom in the deep crevices;
and to-day she felt weary and disposed to sit in the despoiled
arena. It made an intermission too, for the Countess often
asked more from one’s attention than she gave in return; and
Isabel believed that when she was alone with her niece she let
the dust gather for a moment on the ancient scandals of the
Arnide. She so remained below therefore, while Pansy guid-
ed her undiscriminating aunt to the steep brick staircase
at the foot of which the custodian unlocks the tall wood-
en gate. The great enclosure was half in shadow; the western
sun brought out the pale red tone of the great blocks of trav-
ertine-the latent colour that is the only living element in the
immense ruin. Here and there wandered a peasant or a tour-
ist, looking up at the far sky-line where, in the clear stillness,
a multitude of swallows kept circling and plunging. Isabel
presently became aware that one of the other visitors, plant-
ed in the middle of the arena, had turned his attention to her
own person and was looking at her with a certain little poise

744 The Portrait of a Lady