Carter wanted to grab the girl and give her a bear hug, but dared not. Instead he calmly thanked her, and began to back away from the door, stumbling momentarily on the edge of the step as he went. He quickly righted himself, and with a bright “Ciao!” he waved goodbye and hurried up the road.

When he came to the second house, Carter stopped and stood there a brief time admiring it. It was an elegant home with stylish stonework and gracefully arched windows that looked out over the hillside. To the side of the property, a patio and a swimming pool surrounded by flowers afforded the same lovely view. Carter could easily imagine Elena lounging there beneath the sun in that beautiful setting. It was perfect. He knew at once that he had come to the right place, and without a moment’s hesitation, he walked straight to the door and rang the bell.

A moment later, a well-dressed, gray-haired woman came to the door. Not recognizing Carter, she gazed at him with severe, suspicious eyes, much the same as the old woman down the road had done.

“Signora Simonetta?” he asked straightaway.

“No,” replied the woman without the least hint of cordiality. “I work here. Signora Simonetta is not home right now. Who are you, and what is it you want?”

“My name is Carter,” he explained. “I’m a friend of Elena’s from America. It is she, actually, that I’ve come to see.”

“Signorina Elena is not here, either,” said the woman tersely. “She is away at school in L’Aquila.”

L’Aquila.

Carter’s heart sank. That Elena might be somewhere other than home was another of those nagging questions he had never bothered to consider back in the spring. L’Aquila, he knew from his lessons with Giancarlo, was the capital of Abruzzo, certainly a far bigger place than Roccasale. How would he find her there?

“Is there any way that I might contact her?” he asked hopefully. “Perhaps a telephone number?”

“I’m sorry, I cannot give you that,” said the woman flatly.

Carter sighed in frustration.

“But if you like,” she continued, “you can leave a message, and I’ll give it to her later on, when she comes home for the weekend.”

Carter could scarcely believe his ears.

“Today?” he said, wild with elation.

“Si,” nodded the woman sedately. “Any minute now.”

The words had no sooner left her lips when a sleek silver sports car growled up the road and pulled into the driveway with a screech. Carter stood there as if paralyzed and watched as the driver’s door opened and a young woman stepped out.

It was Elena.