her that she did mind, so she answered, "Yes." She added merrily, "I don't see you're such a splendid player, though. The light was behind you, and it was in my eyes."
"I never said I was."
"Why, you did!"
"You didn't attend."
"You said—oh, don't go in for accuracy at this house. We all exaggerate, and we get very angry with people who don't."
"The scene is laid in Florence," repeated Cecil, with an upward note.
Lucy recollected herself.
"'Sunset. Leonora was speeding———'"
Lucy interrupted. "Leonora? Is Leonora the heroine? Who's the book by?"
"Joseph Emery Prank. 'Sunset. Leonora was speeding across the square. Pray the saints she might not arrive too late. Sunset—the sunset of Italy. Under Orcagna's Loggia—the Loggia de' Lanzi, as we sometimes call it now———'"
Lucy burst into laughter. "'Joseph Emery Prank' indeed! Why it's Miss Lavish! It's Miss Lavish's novel, and she's publishing it under somebody else's name."
"Who may Miss Lavish be?"
"Oh, a dreadful person—Mr. Emerson, you remember Miss Lavish?" Excited by her pleasant afternoon, she clapped her hands.
