“Too many churches here, eh?” he asked, with the indulgent twinkle in his eyes of one who is glad to be amused and friendly with the very young.
“I have only seen two,” answered Anne, who understood the twinkle perfectly. “I saw St. Peter’s and the Gesù, and I do not think I shall visit any more.”
“You do not like St. Peter’s?”
Anne answered calmly that she thought it nouveau riche, and the Englishman fixed a monocle in his eye and stared at the American girl.
“St. Peter’s nouveau riche!” he repeated, as though stupefied.
“We should call it so in America,” said Anne with apparent carelessness, though she was fully aware of the effect the words must produce.
“In America—but, my dear young lady!—”
“They tell me that the Gesù is the largest of the little churches,” she continued, “so I went there next. It is a gorgeous and ugly place, and so I did n’t see any more.”
“Perhaps you have also seen and disapproved of the Sistine Chapel?” suggested the Englishman.
“I could not enjoy that terrible battle of arms and legs and torsos which is called the Last Judgment, and I think the color of it is the ugliest color in the whole world,” she answered; and then,47
