Towards the end of the sitting, he suddenly looked up. "Have you ever read the 'Vita Nuova, ' Miss Brown?" he asked. "What's the 'Vita Nuova'?" "It is a little book by Dante, in prose and verse, telling how he met Beatrice, and then how she died. It is much more beautiful than the 'Divina Commedia.'" She looked incredulous. "Is it more beautiful than Bertran del Bornio, where he carried his head like a lantern? Or Bocca degli Abati, where they all change into snakes? Or Cacciaguida when he prophesies about Dante's exile?" "It is quite different -- all about beautiful things, and love." "I don't care for that." "You must read it some day, though." Miss Brown was silent, and relapsed into her usual sullen appearance.