"Step aside for just one moment. I must talk to you."
"Well, what?"
"Do as I say," whispered Mary Gowd.
Something of her earnestness seemed to convey a meaning to Henry Gregg.
"Just wait a minute, folks," he said to the group of three, and joined Mary Gowd, who had chosen a seat a dozen paces away. "What's the trouble?" he asked jocularly. "Hope you're not offended because Tweet said we didn't need you to-day. You know young folks—"
"They must not go alone," said Mary Gowd.
"But—"
"This is not America. This is Italy—this Caldini is an Italian."
"Why, look here; Signor Caldini was introduced to us last night. His folks really belong to the nobility."
"I know; I know," interrupted Mary Gowd. "I tell you they cannot go alone. Please believe me! I have been fifteen years in Rome. Noble or not, Caldini is an Italian. I ask you"—she had clasped her hands and was looking pleadingly up into his face—"I beg of you, let me go with them. You need not pay me to-day. You—"