“Children,” said Miss Sheila, “I have a long story for you. . . . Once upon a time there were two foolish young people who were proud and stubborn, and who trusted the mails of Uncle Sam. . . . And they quarreled badly; and the man wrote but the young lady never got the letter, and the young lady--after long months that were filled with chastening and pride-shattering heartbreak--wrote the young man, but, ah, me, he had changed his name--” “Just as you are going to change yours,” said Mr. Wake, and Miss Sheila laughed and nodded. “And so,” said Miss Sheila, “the fates kept them apart, and her hair turned gray--” “And he grew a tummy,” I put in, and Miss Sheila laughed again. “And they were both lonely,” said Mr. Wake, “so miserably lonely; you _were_, Sheila?” And she said, “Oh, Terry, I--” and then she remembered Sam and me, and stopped. “Well?” I questioned. “Well,” said Miss Sheila, “one fine day the lonely lady who had once been a happy girl grew so very lonely that she could not stand still, and so she met two nice children at a convent gate, and she said, ‘Let’s walk--’ and they looked at each other and smiled--and the way they smiled made her more lonely than ever--and they said ‘Yes,’ and so they all started down a hill--” “And then,” said Mr. Wake, “an old chap who had been down to Florence, and had gotten his favorite gray suit so wet that he didn’t think that it would ever come back to shape, heard the tinkle of the bell of his gate and said, ‘The devil,’ because he was half way up to the house and everything had tried him that day anyway. But he turned back, and he opened the gate, and he found--heaven!” Then I _knew_ that Sam and I should move! “Sam,” I said, “may I see the picture that you’re working on now?” “Yes,” Sam answered, and we stood up. It made us both very happy to leave those two dear people whom we loved so well, and who had been lonely, there together. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR HOMEWARD BOUND! The end of May! And all over again I felt the excitement that comes with a journey, for I was started for Genoa on the twenty-fifth with Miss Meek to see that I got aboard the White Star ship safely, and Sam to see that Miss Meek and I weren’t bored. Miss Bannister had gone to England, and Leslie had gone to join her Mother in Paris where they were to buy a trousseau that would be worn on a ranch for the benefit of one man and a one-eyed Chinese cook who could spit eight feet! And Viola had started out with her Madame Heilbig, who had suddenly decided to tour Switzerland and some of the Italian cities that are popular in summer--the lake and seashore points. _Mr. and Mrs. Wake_ had started out in a smart tan motor one morning, after a little wedding in the American Church--and we didn’t know where they were, and Mr. Hemmingway had taken up residence in Mr. Wake’s villa. In spite of the scattering, however, I had a few people to see me off, and to wish me everything good.