It was very delightful to know she had such enthusiastic friends.

But she was afraid the Duke would not like to spare her for so long a time as a visit to America would require.
"You leave him to me," said Uncle John.

"I'll argue the case clearly and logically, and after that he will have to cave in gracefully." Meantime the dainty gowns and pretty costumes were one by one finished and sent to the hotel, and the girls ransacked the rather inadequate shops of Syracuse for the smartest things in lingerie that could be procured.

As they were determined to "try everything on" and see how their protege looked in her finery, Tato was now obliged to dress for dinner and on every other possible occasion, and she not only astonished her friends by her loveliness but drew the eye of every stranger as surely as the magnet attracts the needle.
Even in Sicily, where the Greek type of beauty to-day exists more perfectly than in Helene, there were few to compare with Tato, and it was only natural that the Americans should be very proud of her.
Kenneth was sketching a bit of the quarry and the old monastery beyond it, with the blue sea glimmering in the distance.

Sometimes he would join the others in their morning trips to the catacombs, the cathedrals or the museum; but the afternoons he devoted to his picture, and the others came to the gardens with him and sat themselves down to sew or read beside his easel.
Arthur Weldon was behaving very well indeed; and although a good deal of the credit belonged to Louise, who managed him with rare diplomatic ability, Uncle John grew to like the young man better each day, and had no fault whatever to find with him.
He was still rather silent and reserved; but that seemed a part of his nature, inherited doubtless from his father, and when he chose to talk his conversation was interesting and agreeable.
Kenneth claimed that Arthur had a bad habit of "making goo-goo eyes" at Louise; but the young man's manner was always courteous and judicious when addressing her, and he managed to conceal his love with admirable discretion--at least when others were present.
Uncle John's private opinion, confided in secret to his friend Mr.
Watson, was that Louise "really might do worse; that is, if they were both of the same mind when they grew up." And so the days passed pleasantly away, and the time for their departure from Syracuse drew near.
On the last morning all of them--with the exception of Tato, who pleaded a headache--drove to the Latomia del Paradiso to see the celebrated "Ear of Dionysius"-- that vast cavern through which the tyrant is said to have overheard every whisper uttered by the prisoners who were confined in that quarry.