Mary, apparently, had given some intimation of her belief
that if constancy is the flower of devotion, reciprocity is the
guarantee of constancy, and Mrs. Hudson had rebuked her failing faith
and called it cruelty. That Miss Garland had found it hard to reason
with Mrs. Hudson, that she suffered deeply from the elder lady's
softly bitter imputations, and that, in short, he had companionship
in misfortune--all this made Rowland find a certain luxury in his
discomfort.
The party at Villa Pandolfini used to sit in the garden in the evenings,
which Rowland almost always spent with them. Their entertainment was in
the heavily perfumed air, in the dim, far starlight, in the crenelated
tower of a neighboring villa, which loomed vaguely above them in the
warm darkness, and in such conversation as depressing reflections
allowed. Roderick, clad always in white, roamed about like a restless
ghost, silent for the most part, but making from time to time a brief
observation, characterized by the most fantastic cynicism. Roderick's
contributions to the conversation were indeed always so fantastic that,
though half the time they wearied him unspeakably, Rowland made an
effort to treat them humorously.
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