"And very likely he has no brother there, as I told Lily. He told her he was coming to Padua; but when they reached Padua, he came right on to Venice. That _shows_ you couldn't place any dependence upon what he said. He said he expected to be put under arrest for it; but he didn't care,--he was coming. Do you believe they'll put him under arrest?" "I don't know--I don't know," said Elmore, in a voice of grief and apprehension, which might well have seemed anxiety for the officer's liberty. "I told her it was one of his jokes. He was very funny, and kept her laughing the whole way, with his broken English and his witty little remarks. She says he's just dying to go to America. Who do you suppose it can be, Owen?" "How should I know? We've no acquaintance among the Austrians," groaned Elmore. "That's what I told Lily. She's no idea of the state of things here, and she was quite horrified. But she says he was a perfect gentleman in everything. He belongs to the engineer corps,--that's one of the highest branches of the service, he told her,--and he gave her his card." "Gave her his card!" Mrs. Elmore had it in the hand which she had been keeping in her pocket, and she now suddenly produced it; and Elmore read the name and address of Ernst von Ehrhardt, Captain of the Royal-Imperial Engineers, Peschiera. "She says she knows he wanted hers, but she didn't offer to give it to him; and he didn't ask her where she was going, or anything." "He knew that he could get her address from Cazzi for ten soldi as soon as her back was turned," said Elmore cynically. "What then?" "Why, he said--and this is the only really bold thing he _did_ do--that he must see her again, and that he should stay over a day in Venice in hopes of meeting her at the theatre or somewhere." "It's a piece of high-handed impudence!" cried Elmore. "Now, Celia, you see what these people are! Do you wonder that the Italians hate them?" "You've often said they only hate their system." "The Austrians are part of their system. He thinks he can take any liberty with us because he is an Austrian officer! Lily must not stir out of the house to-morrow." "She will be too tired to do so," said Mrs. Elmore. "And if he molests us further, I will appeal to the consul." Elmore began to walk up and down the room again. "Well, I don't know whether you could call it _molesting_, exactly," suggested Mrs. Elmore. "What do you mean, Celia? Do you suppose that she--she--encouraged this officer?" "Owen! It was all in the simplicity and innocence of her heart!" "Well, then, that she wishes to see him again?" "Certainly not! But that's no reason why we should be rude about it." "Rude about it? How? Is simply avoiding him rudeness? Is proposing to protect ourselves from his impertinence rudeness?" "No. And if you can't see the matter for yourself, Owen, I don't know how any one is to make you."