A moment later and he stood within the box. He took her icy fingers in his and pressed them to his lips. "I had not intended to have you see me," he said quietly. "Please don't think that I meant to intrude, cara. Only as I was passing by Carnegie Hall I saw the announcement of the concert. I couldn't resist coming in, and perhaps catching a farewell glimpse of you." "A farewell glimpse?" Her voice faltered. He looked down at her longingly. "Yes, I am sailing for Sicily in the morning." "So soon! Without even letting me know! How long have you been in New York?" "I arrived from Mexico this morning. I didn't think you would want to see me, cara. That is why I didn't let you know. Besides--there are some things a man cannot bear," he added beneath his breath so that Gerald wouldn't hear. "Vittorio!" Her whisper was broken. "I must see you before you go." His downcast face suddenly became eager. "May I go home with you now, then?" The crimson stain filtered back into her pale cheeks. "No, Vittorio. I'm afraid not. I--shall not be free," she finished with a little agonized rush. The new radiance drained from his face as suddenly as it had come. "Then we shall have to wait for another trip. Until you come to Florence perhaps?" Repressed suffering harshened his voice. Humiliated to the point of anguish, she was about to acquiesce, when she encountered his tragic eyes. "Why can't you drive home with me? We will take a turn about the park and have a little talk. I--I have a message for your mother." His features relaxed a trifle. "Not the message she is hoping for, I fear," he sighed. In the corridor behind the box he greeted Gerald, who had retired there with unusual tact. "I warn you, I'm eloping with the Marchese," laughed Anne nervously. "He is sailing in the morning and it is our only chance for a chat. We're going for a turn around the park. Isn't it devilish of us?" "Devilish selfish," Gerald's laugh rang forced. He followed them out into the lobby with sulky dignity. As they threaded their way through the dwindling crowd upon the sidewalk, Anne met the imperturbable stare of a pair of China-blue eyes. A basilisk stare that fastened itself upon them as she and Vittorio entered her motor and drove away. CHAPTER XXII ANTI-CLIMAX After Anne dropped Vittorio at his hotel blankness fell upon her; the limitless blankness of a solitary planet whirling in space. A loneliness devastating as the fear of death. What a strange, uncompanioned thing the soul was. How horribly alone. How impossible for it to merge with another.