iver toward his
employer.

'Oh, sit down,' she insisted, 'I want to talk to you.'

He opened his eyes with a show of surprise; his hurt feelings insisted
that all the advances should be on her part. Constance seemed in no hurry
to begin; she removed her hat, pushed back her hair, and sat playing with
the bunch of edelweiss which was stuck in among the roses--flattening the
petals, rearranging the flowers with careful fingers; a touch, it seemed
to Tony's suddenly clamouring senses, that was almost a caress. Then she
looked up quickly and caught his gaze. She leaned forward with a laugh.

'Tony,' she said, 'do you spik any language besides Angleesh?'

He triumphantly concealed all sign of emotion.

'_Si_, signorina, I spik my own language.'

'Would you mind my asking what that language is?'

He indulged in a moment's deliberation. Italian was clearly out of the
question, and French she doubtless knew better than he--he deplored this
polyglot education girls were receiving nowadays.

He had it! He would be Hungarian. His sole fellow guest in the hotel at
Verona the week before had been a Hungarian nobleman, who had informed
him that the Magyar language was one of the most difficult on the face of
the globe. There was at least little likelihood that she was acquainted
with that.

'My own language, signorina, is Magyar.'

'Magyar?' She was clearly taken by surprise.

'_Si_, signorina, I am Hungarian; I was born in Budapest.' He met her
wide-opened eyes with a look of innocent candour.

'Really!' She beamed upon him delightedly; he was playing up even better
than she had hoped. 'But if you are Hungarian, what are you doing here in
Italy, and how does it happen that your name is Antonio?'

'My movver was Italian. She name me Antonio after ze blessed Saint
Anthony of Padua. If you lose anysing, signorina, and you say a prayer to
Saint Anthony every day for nine days, on ze morning of ze tenth you will
find it again.'

'That is very interesting,' she said politely. 'How do you come to know
English so well, Tony?'

'We go live in Amerik' when I li'l boy.'

'And you never learned Italian? I should think your mother would have
taught it to you.'

He imitated Beppo's gestures.

'A word here, a word there. We spik Magyar at home.'

'Talk a little Magyar, Tony. I should like to hear it.'

'What shall I say, signorina?'

'Oh, say anything you please.'

He affected to hesitate while he rehearsed the scraps o