Jerry Junior Part 26

"You know!"

"It struck me that the person who wrote it was in a temper and might afterwards be sorry for having hurt my feelings, and so"--she raised her eyes momentarily to his--"the invitation is still open."

"Tell me," there was both entreaty and command in his tone, "did you know the truth before you wrote that letter?"

"You mean, did I know whom I was inviting? a.s.suredly! Do you think it would have been dignified to write such an informal invitation to a person I did not know?"

She turned away quickly and laid her hand on her father's shoulder.

"Come, Dad, don't you think we ought to be going? Poor Tony wants to read the paper himself."

Mr. Wilder came back to the jail and his companions with a start.

"Oh, eh, yes, I think perhaps we ought. If they don't let you out this afternoon, Tony, I'll make matters lively for 'em, and if there's anything you need send word by Gustavo--I'll be back later." He fished in his pockets and brought up a handful of cigars. "Here's something better than lemon jelly, and they're not from the tobacco shop in Valedolmo either."

He dropped them on the table and turned toward the door; Constance followed with a backward glance.

"Good-bye, Tony; don't despair. Remember that it's always darkest before the dawn, and that whatever others think, Costantina and I believe in you. _We_ know that you are incapable of telling anything but the truth!"

She had almost reached the door when she became aware of the flowers in her hand; she hurried back. "Oh, I forgot! Costantina sent these with her--with--" She faltered; her audacity did not go quite that far.

Tony reached for them. "With what?" he insisted.

She laughed; and a second later the door closed behind her. He stood staring at the door till he heard the key turn in the lock, then he looked down at the flowers in his hand. A note was tied to the stems; his fingers trembled as he worked with the knot.

"_Caro Antonio mio_," it commenced; he could read that. "_La sua Costantina_," it ended; he could read that. But between the two was an elusive, tantalizing hiatus. He studied it and put it in his pocket and took it out and studied it again. He was still puzzling over it half an hour later when Gustavo came to inquire if the signore had need of anything.

Had he need of anything! He sent Gustavo flying to the stationer's in search of an Italian-English dictionary.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon and all the world--except Constance--was taking a siesta. The _Farfalla_, anch.o.r.ed at the foot of the water steps in a blaze of sunshine, was dipping up and down in drowsy harmony with the lapping waves; she was for the moment abandoned, Giuseppe being engaged with a nap in the shade of the cypress trees at the end of the drive. He was so very engaged that he did not hear the sound of an approaching carriage, until the horse was pulled to a sudden halt to avoid stepping on him. Giuseppe staggered sleepily to his feet and rubbed his eyes. He saw a gentleman descend, a gentleman clothed as for a wedding, in a frock coat and a white waistcoat, in shining hat and pearl gray gloves and a boutonniere of oleander. Having paid the driver and dismissed the carriage, the gentleman fumbled in his pocket for his card-case. Giuseppe hurrying forward with a polite bow, stopped suddenly and blinked. He fancied that he must still be dreaming; he rubbed his eyes and stared again, but he found the second inspection more confounding than the first. The gentleman looked back imperturbably, no slightest shade of recognition in his glance, unless a gleam of amus.e.m.e.nt far, far down in the depths of his eye might be termed recognition. He extracted a card with grave deliberation and handed it to his companion.

"_Voglio vedere la Signorina Costantina_," he remarked.

The tone, the foreign accent, were both reminiscent of many a friendly though halting conversation. Giuseppe stared again, appealingly, but the gentleman did not help him out; on the contrary he repeated his request in a slightly sharpened tone.

"_Si, signore_," Giuseppe stammered. "_Prego di verire. La signorina e nel giardino._"

He started ahead toward the garden, looking behind at every third step to make sure that the gentleman was still following, that he was not merely a figment of his own sleepy senses. Their direction was straight toward the parapet where, on a historic wash-day, the signorina had sat beside a row of dangling stockings. She was sitting there now, dressed in white, the oleander tree above her head enveloping her in a glowing and fragrant shade. So occupied was she with a dreamy contemplation of the mountains across the lake that she did not hear footsteps until Giuseppe paused before her and presented the card. She glanced from this to the visitor and extended a friendly hand.

"Mr. Hilliard! Good afternoon."

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 b.u.t.tonhole.

"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 pa.s.s 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!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: "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."