Diana felt that the acquaintance was progressing rather faster than she could have wished, but she hardly knew how to check it. Finally she mustered up courage to say firmly:-- "It must only be if I pay for my own dinner." "But, of course," he answered courteously, with the slightest tinge of surprise in his tones, and once again Diana, felt that she had made a fool of herself and blushed to the tips of her ears. A faint smile trembled for an instant on his lips, and then, without apparently noticing her confusion, he began to talk, passing easily from one subject to another until she had regained her confidence, finally leading her almost imperceptibly into telling him about herself. In the middle of dinner she paused, aghast at her own loquacity. "But what a horrible egotist you must think me!" she exclaimed. "I've been talking about my own affairs all the time." "Not at all. I'm interested. This Signor Baroni who is training your voice--he is the finest teacher in the world. You must have a very beautiful voice for him to have accepted you as a pupil." There was a hint of surprise in his tones. "Oh, no," she hastened to assure him modestly. "I expect it was more that I had the luck to catch him in a good mood that afternoon." "And his moods vary considerably, don't they?" he said, smiling as though at some personal recollection. "Oh, do you know him?" asked Diana eagerly. In an instant his face became a blank mask; it was as though a shutter had descended, blotting out all its vivacious interest. "I have met him," he responded briefly. Then, turning the subject adroitly, he went on: "So now you are on your way home for a well-earned holiday? Your people must be looking forward to seeing you after so long a time--you have been away a year, didn't you say?" "Yes, I spent the other two vacations abroad, in Italy, for the sake of acquiring the language. Signor Baroni"--laughingly--"was horror-stricken at my Italian, so he insisted. But I have no people--not really, you know," she continued. "I live with my guardian and his daughter. Both my parents died when I was quite young." "You are not very old now," he interjected. "I'm eighteen," she answered seriously. "It's a great age," he acknowledged, with equal gravity. Just then a waiter sped forward and with praiseworthy agility deposited their coffee on the table without spilling a drop, despite the swaying of the train, and Diana's fellow-traveller produced his cigarette-case. "Will you smoke?" he asked. She looked at the cigarettes longingly. "Baroni's forbidden me to smoke," she said, hesitating a little. "Do you think--just one--would hurt my voice?" The short black lashes flew up, and the light-grey eyes, like a couple of stars between black clouds, met his in irresistible appeal.