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CHAPTER XX.
"Ah! life has many dreams, but yet has none
Like its first dream of love."
With hospitable eagerness Lucy Aylmer hastened to conduct her guests to her own room. Francesca was soon disencumbered of her riding-hood and cloak; and the three young people, left together, became rapidly acquainted. The very blunders made by the two Italians in the English tongue,—the necessity of explanations, and of mutual assistance in comprehending each other, soon put the conversation on a familiar footing.
The dinner was very cheerful; for all were inclined to please and be pleased. Francesca was not only attracted towards her sweet and gentle hostess, but wished, by exertion, to banish the image of Evelyn, brought too readily before her by the frequent recurrence to mind of the morning's scene.
