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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE Laurie went to Nice intending to stay a week, and remained a monthHe was tired of wandering about alone, and Amy's familiar presence seemed to give a homelike charm to the foreign scenes in which she bore a partHe rather missed the `petting' he used to receive, and enjoyed a taste of it again, for no attentions, however flattering, from strangers, were half so pleasant as the sisterly adoration of the girls at homeAmy never would pet him like the others, but she was very glad to see him now, and quite clung to him, feeling that he was the representative of the dear family for whom she longed more than she would confessThey naturally took comfort in each other's society and were much together, riding, walking, dancing, or dawdling, for at Nice no one can be very industrious during the gay seasonBut, while apparently amusing themselves in the most careless fashion, they were half-consciously making discoveries and forming opinions about each otherAmy rose daily in the estimation of her friend, but he sank in hers, and each felt the truth before a word was spokenAmy tried to please, and succeeded, for she was grateful for the many pleasures he gave her, and repaid him with the little services to which womanly women know how to lend an indescribable charmLaurie made no effort of any kind, but just let himself black chanel handbags drift along as comfortably as possible, trying to forget, and feeling that all women owed him a kind word because one had been cold to himIt cost him no effort to be generous, and he would have given Amy all the trinkets in Nice if she would have taken them, but at the same time he felt that he could not change the opinion she was forming of him, and he rather dreaded the keen blue eyes that seemed to watch him with such half-sorrowful, half-scornful surprise "All the rest have gone to Monaco for the dayI preferred to stay at home and write lettersThey are done now, and I am going to Valrosa to sketch, will you come?' said Amy, as she joined Laurie one lovely day when he lounged in as usual about noon "Well, yes, but isn't it rather warm for such a long walk?" he answered slowly, for the shaded salon looked inviting after the glare without "I'm going to have the little carriage, and Baptiste can drive, so you'll have nothing to do but hold your umbrella, and keep your gloves nice," returned Amy, with a sarcastic glance at the immaculate kids, which were a weak point with Laurie "Then I'll go with pleasure And he put out his hand for her sketchbookBut she tucked it under her arm with a sharp "Don't trouble yourselfIt's no exertion to me, but you don't look equal to it Laurie lifted his eyebrows and followed at a leisurely pace as she ran tiffany co earrings downstairs, but when they got into the carriage he took the reins himself, and left little Baptiste nothing to do but fold his arms and fall asleep on his perch The two never quarreledAmy was too well-bred, and just now Laurie was too lazy, so in a minute he peeped under her hatbrim with an inquiring airShe answered him with a smile, and they went on together in the most amicable manner It was a lovely drive, along winding roads rich in the picturesque scenes that delight beauty-loving eyesHere an ancient monastery, whence the solemn chanting of the monks came down to themThere a bare-legged shepherd, in wooden shoes, pointed hat, and rough jacket over one shoulder, sat piping on a stone while his goats skipped among the rocks or lay at his feetMeek, mouse-colored donkeys, laden with panniers of freshly cut grass passed by, with a pretty girl in a capaline sitting between the green piles, or an old woman spinning with a distaff as she wentBrown, soft-eyed children ran out from the quaint stone hovels to offer nosegays, or bunches of oranges still on the boughGnarled olive trees covered the hills with their dusky foliage, fruit hung golden in the orchard, and great scarlet anemones fringed the roadside, while beyond green slopes and craggy heights, the Maritime Alps rose sharp and white against the blue Italian sky Valrosa well deserved zucca spy fendi bag its name, for in that climate of perpetual summer roses blossomed everywhereThey overhung the archway, thrust themselves between the bars of the great gate with a sweet welcome to passers-by, and lined the avenue, winding through lemon trees and feathery palms up to the villa on the hillEvery shadowy nook, where seats invited one to stop and rest, was a mass of bloom, every cool grotto had its marble nymph smiling from a veil of flowers and every fountain reflected crimson, white, or pale pink roses, leaning down to smile at their own beautyRoses covered the walls of the house, draped the cornices, climbed the pillars, and ran riot over the balustrade of the wide terrace,whence one looked down on the sunny Mediterranean, and the white-walled city on its shore "This is a regular honeymoon paradise, isn't it? Did you ever see such roses?" asked Amy, pausing on the terrace to enjoy the view, and a luxurious whiff of perfume that came wandering by "No, nor felt such thorns," returned Laurie, with his thumb in his mouth, after a vain attempt to capture a solitary scarlet flower that grew just beyond his reach "Try lower down, and pick those that have no thorns," said Amy, gathering three of the tiny cream-colored ones that starred the wall behind herShe put them in his buttonhole as a peace offering, and he stood a minute looking down at them fendi b bag with a curious expression, for in the Italian part of his nature there was a touch of superstition, and he was just then in that state of half-sweet, half-bitter melancholy, when imaginative young men find significance in trifles and food for romance everywhereHe had thought of Jo in reaching after the thorny red rose, for vivid flowers became her, and she had often worn ones like that from the greenhouse at homeThe pale roses Amy gave him were the sort that the Italians lay in dead hands, never in bridal wreaths, and for a moment he wondered if the omen was for Jo or for himself, but the next instant his American common sense got the better of sentimentality, and he laughed a heartier laugh than Amy had heard since he came "It's good advice, you'd better take it and save your fingers," she said, thinking her speech amused him "Thank you, I will," he answered in jest, and a few months later he did it in earnest "Laurie, when are you going to your grandfather?" she asked presently, as she settled herself on a rustic seat "You have said that a dozen times within the last three weeks "I dare say, short answers save trouble "He expects you, and you really ought to go "Hospitable creature! I know it "Then why don't you do it?" "Natural depravity, I suppose "Natural indolence, you meanIt's really dreadful!" And Amy looked tiffany diamond severe