She herself appeared to feel a certain hesitation; she glanced back at the church door, as if under the impulse to retrace her steps.

She stood there a moment longer--long enough to let him see that she was a person of easy attitudes--and then she walked away slowly to the parapet of the terrace.

Here she stationed herself, leaning her arms upon the high stone ledge, presenting her back to Longueville, and gazing at rural Italy.

Longueville went on with his sketch, but less attentively than before.

He wondered what this young lady was doing there alone, and then it occurred to him that her companion--her mother, presumably--was in the church.