"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 Tête Noire.
"Innocentina and I––" he began. Then his eyes wandered to Gaetà, 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-à-manger, at the same table with Gaetà 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 affairs are nothing to you now."
I had thought that he would be back in time for coffee, but he did not appear, and the curiosity of Gaetà, who had been restless since the Boy's departure, could no longer be kept within bounds. "Do go and see if he has got that wonderful bag," she said. "He might come to tell us!"
I obeyed, nothing loth, but only to learn from the concierge that the young gentleman had gone away with the man who had called.
"Did he leave no message?" I asked.