he flagged walk behind the
Palazzo, which leads, broad and stately, set with shallow steps, beneath
an avenue of ilex trees. The dark, pointed leaves made a gothic
fret-work against the saffron of the sky.

"Ladies in Genoa velvets and silk gowns embroidered with golden castles,
like the gown of poor Isabella," murmured Sophy. "I see them moving on
before me--with white peacocks mincing after.... There.... Don't you see
them, too? This walk is haunted...."

"It will be haunted ... when I return to it ... alone...." said Amaldi.

She tried to think of some answer. She could not. Yet the silence must
be broken. Silence had such a terrible eloquence of its own.

"I ... I shall come back some day," she said at last. It was as if the
words sprang of their own volition. Yet as she uttered them a feeling
leaped also within her. She felt sure, sure that she would come back
some day--that he and she would be walking here together--that all would
be different--that they would say to each other: "Do you remember that
other evening when we walked here?"

"So you feel that, too?" he said, in that same low voice. And now he was
looking into her eyes steadily, and there was exultation in this look.

Here the Marchesa called them. She was walking briskly towards them,
holding up her little watch on its jewelled chain, stopping where she
was.

"Time to go!" she called. As they joined her, she said vexedly: "That
_oca_ of a woman kept me standing there till a moment since--I'm glad
Marco thought of taking you on, my dear. You wouldn't have had time for
even a peep, otherwise."

It was quite dusk when they reached the Villa Bianca. Amaldi helped
Sophy out and went up to the villa with her. As they mounted the last
step, and came out upon the terrace, they saw that some one was standing
there--the figure of a man, looking almost gigantic in the thick
twilight. He walked towards them with a long, swinging step that brought
him near in a few paces.

"_Cecil_...?" Amaldi heard her whisper.

"Is that you, Sophy?" came Chesney's voice. "This is the most
confoundedly tricky light." He was close now.

"Ah, yes!... I see it's you," he ended, with a note of vibrant
satisfaction in his voice. "How d'ye do?" he added, peering at Amaldi.

"The Marchese Amaldi----" murmured Sophy, as once before.

"How d'ye do?" said Chesney again.

"How d'ye do?" said Amaldi. The men bowed without shaking hands. The
three stood a little awkwardly for