"Oh!" gasped Nancy, "must I? Is it bad?"
"Quite bad," said Nino. "He has probably lost half of your forty thousand francs already."
"He only had eighteen," said Nancy, with a twinkle in her grey eye.
"That's better," said Nino. "But go and fetch him all the same."
Nancy was greatly excited and rather pleased. The baby should see the Mediterranean. Valeria, "grandmamma," must come too, of course.
"No, dear," said Valeria, "I cannot. I have promised Aunt Carlotta to help her with her reception to-morrow evening. But I will take you part of the way—as far as Alessandria or Genoa."
"But I am sure Nino could come," said Nancy, looking up at him interrogatively.
"Yes," said Nino, and then quickly said no, he was sorry, he could not possibly leave Carlo's office. Besides, she would manage Aldo better without him.
The next morning he went to the station to see them off. Valeria had Anne-Marie in her arms, and Nancy walked beside them, looking like the baby's elder sister. They had no luggage but a small valise, for Valeria was returning to Milan in the afternoon, and Nancy was sure that she would come back with Aldo the day after to-morrow.