Jo blew Mary Lee a kiss from the tips of her fingers. "Thanks for the bouquets," she said. "Just because I know a little arithmetic you think I am smart. When it comes to real literature I am floored." She began to gather up her traps for they were approaching the station and soon their feet would be treading the streets of the Eternal City.
A few moments in the station, a swift drive to their hotel and they were established in Rome.
There was such a variety of wishes displayed the next morning that the party split up into three sections. Mr. Pinckney, Miss Dolores, Mary Lee and Mr. Kirk, as a matter of course, yearned to see St. Peter's. Nan, Carter and Jo voted for the Forum, so Miss Helen agreed to join them. This left Mrs. Corner and the twins to decide upon what they should see. Jack was divided between a desire to be of the party with Carter and to go to the Coliseum, a place upon which Jean had set her heart. At last Jean's references to the early martyrs and to the dens and chambers for the wild beasts so fired Jack's imagination that she concluded to go with her mother and Jean.
"It is too large a party anyhow," declared Miss Helen. "We shall all get along much more comfortably this way."
"Of course Mary Lee would go with Miss Dolores," remarked Nan, "and of course Jean and Jack wanted to be harrowed by a view of the spot where the early Christians were martyred. I suppose Jack will be in tears over it while Jean will be interested in seeing where they used to keep the lions and tigers, and will placidly tell Jack that it all happened so long ago that there is no use in one's feeling badly about it." This described the temperaments of the two so well that all laughed.
"Will there be a moon?" asked Nan abruptly just before they reached the car which would take them to their destination.
Miss Helen laughed. "Are you dreaming, Nan? It isn't night."
Nan laughed, too. "I was thinking of the Coliseum. The guide-book says it is best seen at moonlight, and I was wondering if we would have a chance to do that."
"I think we shall, but not till the latter part of our stay."
"As long as we get it in, that will be all right."
Arriving at the point from which the Forum could be best viewed from above, the four stood looking toward it silently, each impressed by the sight of the historic columns, the triumphal arches, the ruined temples.