with him; and at the same time realized
that whatever happened she would find it almost impossible to explain
the man's introduction into the affair in any way save that which, were
the story known, would be taken, perhaps naturally, for granted.

Suddenly the thought of Italy flashed into her brain, and with the
thought came instant resolution.

She had still twelve pounds in her purse--more than enough to take her
to Naples; and once there she could surely discover some friend of the
bygone days to whom she might apply for advice as to her future
maintenance.

In Italy she could live frugally, as the peasants lived; and all at once
Toni felt a great nostalgia for the glowing South, with its sunshine and
hot blue skies, its orange-groves, its languorous noons and warm,
scented nights.

The Italian blood in her--the blood transmitted to her by her mother,
spoke in its turn; and suddenly Toni felt that in that land of warmth
and colour she could find the rest and peace for which her sorely-driven
soul cried out....

And then the miracle happened.

Later that evening she was standing on the platform of another great
station, waiting her turn to approach the booking-office where she might
obtain her ticket to Italy--and home--when a wail in a thin foreign
voice fell upon her ear, and she turned round to face a dark and
agitated-looking young woman, neatly dressed, who was bewailing herself
in the fluent Italian of the lower classes.

"What is it? Can I help you?"

Toni spoke impulsively, sorry for the young woman even in the midst of
her own numbing grief; and the other turned round in astonishment at
hearing her own tongue.

"Oh, Signorina!" She evidently took Toni for a compatriot. "Such a
misfortune has overcome me--I do not know what is to be done. I am here
with my charges"--two sleepy-looking English children stood yawning
beside her--"on the way to Naples, and behold, the English Signora--the
governess, you understand--who was to have come with us to deliver the
children safely to their parents is at the last moment unable to come."

"But why can't she come?"

"_Non lo so!_" The woman shrugged her shoulders. "She sends me but a
telegram to the waiting-room--an accident, illness--I know not--but she
does not come, and I must go alone with the two little ones, who are
both delicate and will be ill the whole journey through!"

A wild inspiration flashed into Toni's mind.

"You go to Naples?" she said.