"I have been looking for you in the gardens," he said. "They said you were walking there—but where you have been hiding yourself I do not know! Certainly I failed to discover the spot."
If Monsieur d'Antin had been so foolish as to allow himself to look at the girl as he spoke, he would have seen the quick look of relief on her face. As it was, he looked at his watch.
"The servants told me you were here," she replied. "How you did not find me in the gardens, I cannot think. Did you go up to the ilex grove—the wood at the top of the hill?"
The keen note of anxiety in her voice was not lost upon Monsieur d'Antin.
"Yes," he returned. "I looked down the avenue, but I saw nobody. Then it began to rain heavily, and I tried to get back to the house. But I lost my way, and found myself—oh, close to the high road. So I took refuge under a tree, and—here I am!"
Bianca laughed nervously. "What a dull way of spending the afternoon!" she said. "But mamma will be back presently—she had to go to Rome. You are going to stop for dinner, of course? Perhaps to sleep here?"
"Impossible!" said Monsieur d'Antin, consulting his watch again. "I must drive back to Genzano. I told the vetturino to wait."
"But mamma," said Bianca, "she will be so disappointed to miss you! Surely you can stay to dinner?"
"Impossible," repeated Monsieur d'Antin. "I have promised to drive back to Rome from Genzano with one of the secretaries of our legation, and we were to start at seven o'clock. Make my excuses to my sister, and tell her that I shall be back again soon to pay her a visit—oh, very soon. But, my dear child, you look pale—you have been too much in the sun, perhaps—"
"Do I?" asked Bianca, hastily. "It is nothing—my head aches a little. Yes, I suppose it is the sun."