There was nothing of surprise in her greeting; evidently she did not find the visit extraordinary. Giuseppe stared, his mouth and eyes at their widest, until the signorina dismissed him; then he turned and walked back--staggered back almost--never before, not even late at night on Corpus Domini day, had he had such overwhelming reason to doubt his senses. Constance turned to the visitor and swept him with an appreciative glance, her eye lingering a second on the oleander in his buttonhole. "Perhaps you can tell me, is Tony out of jail? I am so anxious to know." He shook his head. "Found guilty and sentenced for life; you'll never see him again." "Ah; poor Tony! I shall miss him." "I shall miss him too; we've had very good times together." Constance suddenly became aware that her guest was still standing; she moved along and made place on the wall. "Won't you sit down? Oh, excuse me," she added with an anxious glance at his clothes, "I'm afraid you'll get dusty; it would be better to bring a chair." She nodded toward the terrace. He sat down beside her. "I am only too honored; the last time I came you did not invite me to sit on the wall." "I am sorry if I appeared inhospitable, but you came so unexpectedly, Mr. Hilliard." "Why 'Mr. Hilliard'? When you wrote you called me 'dear Jerry'." "That was a slip of the pen; I hope you will excuse it." "When I wrote I called you 'Miss Wilder'; that was a slip of the pen too. What I meant to say was 'dear Constance'." She let this pass without comment. "I have an apology to make." "Yes?" "Once, a long time ago, I insulted you; I called you a kid. I take it back; I swallow the word. You were never a kid." "Oh," she dimpled, and then, "I don't believe you remember a thing about it!" [Illustration: "Never before had he had such overwhelming reason to doubt his senses"] "Connie Wilder, a little girl in a blue sailor suit, and two nice fat braids of yellow hair dangling down her back with red bows on the ends--very convenient for pulling." "You are making that up. You don't remember." "Ah, but I do! And as for the racket you were making that afternoon, it was, if you will permit the expression, _infernal_. I remember it distinctly; I was trying to cram for a math. exam." "It wasn't I. It was your bad little sisters and brothers and cousins." "It was you, dear Constance. I saw you with my own eyes; I heard you with my own ears." "Bobbie Hilliard was pulling my hair." "I apologize on his behalf, and with that we will close the incident. There is something much more important which I wish to talk about." "Have you seen Nannie?" She offered this hastily not to allow a pause. "Yes, dear Constance, I have seen Nannie." "Call me 'Miss Wilder' please." "I'll be hanged if I will! You've been calling me Tony and Jerry and anything else you chose ever since you knew me--and long before for the matter of that." Constance waived the point. "Was she glad to see you?"