“Yes, that is what I will; if I miss the train.”
They had entered beneath the long arcade, which was dark and altogether deserted except for one distant figure.
“I almost want you to miss your train,” she said eagerly. “You do not know how very, very anxious I am to hear you play.”
“I can miss it,” he said thoughtfully; “it is very simple to miss a train. One can sleep, and then here in Munich one may say the cabman a wrong Gare. If I say ‘Ostbahnhof’ when I must go from the Starnberg, I shall surely miss the train, you know.”
He looked at her gravely and she burst out laughing at the picture he had drawn for her mind, because there is all of three or four miles between those two particular stations.
“But I don’t want you to miss the train,” she said presently. “You can play for me after you come back, I—”
At this moment the figure which had been coming towards them suddenly resolved itself into that of a stalwart young man, who, just as he was directly in front of them, stopped, seized Rosina in his arms and kissed her. She very naturally screamed in fright, and her escort delivered a blow at the stranger which sent him reeling backwards against one of the stone pillars.
The man, who was well dressed and appeared to be a gentleman, recovered himself with surprising quickness, and laughed oddly, saying:
“My Lord, what a welcome!”
At the sound of his voice Rosina screamed afresh, this time in quite another tone, however, exclaiming: