"Ah, there you are, Derry!" she said. "Was there ever a more punctual person? Am I late? I had such a load of things to do that I left dressing till the last moment. Is this where we dine? What a jolly little café! It is just like hundreds of such establishments in Rome and Naples. I suppose these Italian restaurateurs employ their fellow-countrymen as builders and decorators; so they carry their architecture and fittings with them." "They change their skies, but not their soups," said Power, falling in with her mood, and the driver of Nancy's cab recognized the adaptation of Horace's tag, and was pleased to grin, being himself a broken-down graduate of Harvard. Ushered to the dining-room, they tackled the _hors d'oeuvres_ at once, and Nancy chatted about current events with the tranquil self-possession she would have displayed at Mrs. Van Ralten's dinner-table. The meal, excellently cooked and deftly served, marched to its end without a word from her as to its particular purpose. She delighted Pestalozzi by taking minute instructions for the preparation of an exquisite spaghetti, and even noted the brands of Italian wines which should be tabled with each course. At half-past eight, when coffee appeared, she rose: "Pay the bill now, Derry," she said. "We must be off in five minutes, and I am sure you want to smoke at least one cigarette in peace. Perhaps Signor Pestalozzi will be good enough to order a cab?" Signor Pestalozzi was charmed, and decidedly puzzled. He believed for many a year that those two had dined at his café for a wager. If any doubter scoffed, he would say, with appropriate gesture: "Sango la Madonna! I tella you he no squeeze-a de gell, not-ta one time; so, if dey no make-a de bet, what-a for he give 'er dat pranzo superbo?" Really, from Giovanni's point of view, there was no answer. "Tell the man to drive us to the Easton's Beach end of the Cliff Walk," she said nonchalantly, when the cab was in evidence, and away they went. "There is no moon; but these summer nights are never quite dark," she began, by way of polite conversation. "It ought to be restful tonight down there by the Atlantic. It is a horrid thing to confess, but the memories of Venice which are most vivid in my mind are not connected with St. Mark's or the Doge's Palace, but center round just such a night as this on the Lido. Coming back in the gondola, I almost wanted to slip over the side into the still waters, and drift away to the unknown." "Do we swim tonight, then?" he asked.