It began in a Woman’s Club in London on a February afternoon⁠—an uncomfortable club, and a miserable afternoon⁠—when Mrs. Wilkins, who had come down from Hampstead to shop and had lunched at her club,...

Of course Mrs. Arbuthnot was not miserable⁠—how could she be, she asked herself, when God was taking care of her?⁠—but she let that pass for the moment unrepudiated, because of her conviction that her...

The owner of the medieval castle was an Englishman, a Mr. Briggs, who was in London at the moment and wrote that it had beds enough for eight people, exclusive of servants, three sitting-rooms, battle...

It had been arranged that Mrs. Arbuthnot and Mrs. Wilkins, travelling together, should arrive at San Salvatore on the evening of March 31st⁠—the owner, who told them how to get there, appreciated thei...

It was cloudy in Italy, which surprised them. They had expected brilliant sunshine. But never mind: it was Italy, and the very clouds looked fat. Neither of them had ever been there before. Both gazed...

When Mrs. Wilkins woke next morning she lay in bed a few minutes before getting up and opening the shutters. What would she see out of her window? A shining world, or a world of rain? But it would be ...

Their eyes followed her admiringly. They had no idea they had been snubbed. It was a disappointment, of course, to find she had forestalled them and that they were not to have the happiness of prepari...

Presently, when Mrs. Wilkins and Mrs. Arbuthnot, unhampered by any duties, wandered out and down the worn stone steps and under the pergola into the lower garden, Mrs. Wilkins said to Mrs. Arbuthnot, ...

That one of the two sitting-rooms which Mrs. Fisher had taken for her own was a room of charm and character. She surveyed it with satisfaction on going into it after breakfast, and was glad it was her...

There was no way of getting into or out of the top garden at San Salvatore except through the two glass doors, unfortunately side by side, of the dining-room and the hall. A person in the garden who w...

The sweet smells that were everywhere in San Salvatore were alone enough to produce concord. They came into the sitting-room from the flowers on the battlements, and met the ones from the flowers insi...

At the evening meal, which was the first time the whole four sat round the dining-room table together, Scrap appeared. She appeared quite punctually, and in one of those wrappers or tea-gowns which ar...

The uneventful days⁠—only outwardly uneventful⁠—slipped by in floods of sunshine, and the servants, watching the four ladies, came to the conclusion there was very little life in them. To the servants...

That first week the wistaria began to fade, and the flowers of the Judas-tree and peach-trees fell off and carpeted the ground with rose-colour. Then all the freesias disappeared, and the irises grew ...

The strange effect of this incident was that when they met that evening at dinner both Mrs. Fisher and Lady Caroline had a singular feeling of secret understanding with Mr. Wilkins. He could not be to...

And so the second week began, and all was harmony. The arrival of Mr. Wilkins, instead of, as three of the party had feared and the fourth had only been protected from fearing by her burning faith in ...

On the first day of the third week Rose wrote to Frederick. In case she should again hesitate and not post the letter, she gave it to Domenico to post; for if she did not write now there would be no t...

They had a very pleasant walk, with a great deal of sitting down in warm, thyme-fragrant corners, and if anything could have helped Rose to recover from the bitter disappointment of the morning it wou...

And then when she spoke⁠ ⁠… what chance was there for poor Briggs? He was undone. All Scrap said was, “How do you do,” on Mr. Wilkins presenting him, but it was enough; it undid Briggs. From a cheerfu...

Scrap wanted to know so much about her mother that Arundel had presently to invent. He would talk about anything she wished if only he might be with her for a while and see her and hear her, but he kn...

Now Frederick was not the man to hurt anything if he could help it; besides, he was completely bewildered. Not only was his wife here⁠—here, of all places in the world⁠—but she was clinging to him as ...

That evening was the evening of the full moon. The garden was an enchanted place where all the flowers seemed white. The lilies, the daphnes, the orange-blossom, the white stocks, the white pinks, the...