"Welcome!" she cried. "Welcome to Monteriano!" He
greeted her, for he did not know what else to do, and a
sympathetic murmur rose from the crowd below.

"You told me to come here," she continued, "and I don't
forget it. Let me introduce Signor Carella!"

Philip discerned in the corner behind her a young man who
might eventually prove handsome and well-made, but certainly
did not seem so then. He was half enveloped in the drapery
of a cold dirty curtain, and nervously stuck out a hand,
which Philip took and found thick and damp. There were more
murmurs of approval from the stairs.

"Well, din-din's nearly ready," said Lilia. "Your
room's down the passage, Philip. You needn't go changing."

He stumbled away to wash his hands, utterly crushed by
her effrontery.

"Dear Caroline!" whispered Lilia as soon as he had
gone. "What an angel you've been to tell him! He takes it
so well. But you must have had a MAUVAIS QUART D'HEURE."

Miss Abbott's long terror suddenly turned into acidity.
"I've told nothing," she snapped. "It's all for you--and if
it only takes a quarter of an hour you'll be lucky!"

Dinner was a nightmare. They had the smelly dining-room