. And now came this American man, this
boozing Colonel, with none of Ralston's reticence, and apparently with
none of his respect for the character of a lady whom he had known long
and well, and the coarser accusation travelled on the same lines as the
other, and only differed from it in going a good deal further.

'I will know to-night,' Paul said to himself savagely a hundred times
in the course of that afternoon and evening, and when at length the
slow hours had rolled themselves on to the time of his appointment,
he presented himself in the vestibule of the Baroness's hotel in a
condition of tragic resolve.

Gertrude was there in the very act of saying farewell to her _passagere_
American friends, and he thought to himself, with as much of anger as
admiration, that he had never seen her look altogether so charming
as she did at that instant. The vivacity of colouring which commonly
distinguished her was softened, and the unaccustomed pallor of her face
lent a tender softness to her whole aspect. Her eyes, too, had lost
something of their brilliance, and seemed faintly humid. He could have
sworn that she had been crying, but when she turned to meet him after
the departure of her friends, there was a gentle sparkle of welcome in
her face, and she held out her beautiful jewelled little hand with a
charming frankness.

'I am so glad you are here,' she said, 'and I was so much afraid that
those dear tiresome people were going to overstay their time, and that I
should have to keep you waiting.'

She had a hooded opera-cloak thrown over her left arm, and she held
this out to him, and turned away so that he might adjust it about her
shoulders.

'It is a lovely night,' she said, 'like a night in our Indian summer in
dear old Massachusetts. Let us talk in the garden, Paul.'

He walked by her side, still half saturnine, but in part conquered
already by the soft seduction of her voice and face. He did not speak a
word until they reached the garden terrace, and then only in answer to
her question:

'You must really go, Paul?'

'Yes,' he answered gloomily, 'I must really go.'

For the season of the year it was a wonderful night even for Naples.
The air was like balm, and was loaded with the scent of flowers. Lights
twinkled here and there about the garden, and the moon shone broad and
bright almost at the zenith, half drowning the lustre of the stars in
the haze of light it spread. Scattered about the gardens were a do