I should like to know there was somebody near her she could rely
on--don't you understand, Evelyn?--to see that she is situated and
treated as you would like one of your own sisters to be."
"I see what it is, Brand," Lord Evelyn said, laughing, "you are jealous
of the foreigners. You think they will be using tooth-picks in her
presence, and that kind of thing."
"I wish to know that she and her mother are in a good hotel," said
Brand, simply, "with proper rooms, and attendance, and--and a carriage:
women can't go walking through these beastly streets of Naples. The long
and short of it is, Evelyn," he added, with some embarrassment, as he
took out from his pocket-book two blank checks, and sat down at the
table and signed them, "I want you to play the part of big brother to
them, don't you know? And you will have to exercise skill as well as
force. Don't you see, Calabressa is the best of fellows; but he would
think nothing of taking them to stay in some vile restaurant, if the
proprietor were politically inclined--"
"Yes, yes; I see: garlic; cigarettes during breakfast, right opposite
the ladies; wine-glasses used as finger-glasses: well, you are a
thorough Englishman, Brand!"
"I suppose, when your sisters go abroad, you see that they are directed
to a proper hotel?" said Brand, somewhat angrily.
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