tender mercies of the Baron and Baronessa for many a
_triste_ hour.

"But why should you be imposed upon by them, if they don't amuse you?"
I ventured to ask; for Gaeta was so frank about her affairs that one
was sometimes led inadvertently to take liberties.

"Oh, it was the brother who amused me, and he amuses me still,"
replied she, with a _moue_, and a shrug of her pretty shoulders. "At
least, I don't _think_ I shall be tired of him, when I see him again.
He is a whirlwind; he carries a woman off her feet, before she knows
what is happening, and we like that in a man, we Italians. We adore
temperament. I was nice to the Baron and Baronessa for Paolo's sake.
He had to go away from Milan, which is my real home, you know--(if I
have a home anywhere)--to have a medal for his air-ship, and many
honours and dinners given him in Paris; so, without stopping to think,
I invited the Baron and Baronessa to visit me in Aix. Then they
suggested that we should have a little tour first; and we are having
it--_Dio mio_, so much the worse for me, till I met you! And now they
make me feel like a naughty child."

"Will Paolo come also to the villa?" I asked, smiling.

"He has engagements to last a fortnight still. Perhaps afterwards he
may run out to Aix."

The Boy's face fell when I told him that I had promised the Contessa
to walk along the highroad, over the Tete Noire.

"Innocentina and I----" he began. Then his eyes wandered to Gaeta, who
stood with her friends at the other end of the hail. She was looking
extremely pretty, and chose that instant to throw a quick glance at
me, demanding sympathy for some _ennui_ or other caused by the
Baronessa. "Oh, very well," he finished, "it doesn't matter."

He was in suspense all day about his mysteriously important bag.
Though handbills had been hastily printed and scattered over the
country, there was no certainty as to when we should hear or whether
we should hear at all. Late in the evening, however, as we were
finishing dinner in the _salle-a-manger_, at the same table with Gaeta
and her friends, a message came that a man desired to see the young
monsieur who had advertised for a lost bag.

The Boy excused himself, and jumped up. I should have liked to go with
him, but courtesy to the ladies forbade, and I sat still, feeling
guilty of disloyalty somehow, nevertheless, because of a look he threw
me. It seemed to say, "We were such friends, but a woman has come
between. My affa