Giuseppe dropped his end of a trunk and approached. Miss Hazel handed him the lieutenant’s card. ‘The signorina and the signore—in the garden, I think.’
Giuseppe advanced upon the garden. Jerry’s face, at the sight, became as blank as Constance’s. The two cast upon each other a glance of guilty terror, and from this looked wildly behind for a means of escape. Their eyes simultaneously lighted on the break in the garden wall. Jerry sprang up and pulled Constance after him. On the top, she gathered her skirts together preparatory to jumping, then turned back for a moment toward her father.
‘Dad,’ she called in a stage whisper, ‘you go and meet him like a gentleman. Tell him you are very sorry, but your daughter is not at home to-day.’
The two conspirators scrambled down on the other side; and Mr. Wilder, with a sigh, dutifully stepped forward to greet the guests.
Printed in Great Britain by Butler & Tanner, Frome and London