“We’ll have no more visitors to-night, Nino,” he said. “The bold slut! There’s a lesson for her. What’s the matter, Nino?” Nino’s face was buried in his pillow. He had given that one glance at her as she stood under the light, and then, for very pity, had hidden his eyes from her intolerable shame. Now at Colin’s voice he looked up. “Ah, the poor lady!” he said. “You were terrible to her, signor.” Some ecstasy of wickedness possessed Colin. Naked as a young Greek god, and as fair, he capered round the room in an abandonment of glee. “Oh, the poor pretty lady!” he cried. “What a pleasant hour she had planned, and what a disappointment! But how naughty of her! She shocked me. What will she plan next, do you think? I would bet on a slight headache in the morning, and breakfast in her room. Or will she make an effort and catch the early boat? _Chi sa?_ Good night, Nino.” He jumped into bed; Nino could hear it shaking under the gusts of his smothered laughter. * * * * * Colin, according to his wont, slept dreamlessly, and woke to find Nino’s hand on his shoulder, rousing him. “Wake, signor,” he said. Colin yawned and stretched himself. “I’ll raise your wages, Nino, if you’ll go away,” he said. “The signora----” began Nino. Colin broke off his yawn and began to laugh. “Good Lord, yes,” he said. “Well, what about the signora? I hope she had as good a night as I.” “She did not sleep in her bed,” said Nino, “and she is not in the house.” “Well, what then? She’s gone by the early boat; I thought she very likely would. So cool in the early morning. Probably she has left a note for her maid to say so. Look and find it. I’ll have breakfast out of doors.” He got out of bed, and while he dressed basked in the wonderful memories of the night before. Just here had she stood for that short moment ... and then with that odd gesture of folding something round her had turned.... What a horrid humiliated night she must have passed, too badly stung to sleep, and only eager for the morning, and the boat that left at six o’clock, which would carry her away from the island. He wondered whether, if he had received a slap like that, he would have turned tail. Certainly it would have been an embarrassing breakfast next morning; they would have had to talk with great perseverance and animation. He rather thought that he would have stopped and brazened it out to show he didn’t care.... Nino entered again. “I’ve found a note, signor,” he said, “but it is addressed to you not to her maid. It was on the breakfast table in the pergola.” Colin held out his hand for it and opened it. It was quite short. “I was terribly happy here,” it ran, “and I have been terribly unhappy. So it is good-bye, Colin.” He knitted his brows. Surely he had heard something very like this only a few hours before.... Then he remembered. “No-one knows of this but you, Nino?” he asked. “No, signor, I found it and brought it to you.”