“Ha!” laughed Sheffield. “Just the type of response I expected. It’s good to see that some things never change. So, now you can tell me the truth. What are you doing here today, skulking about the campus?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it skulking,” chuckled Giancarlo, picking at his salad. “Actually I just came to do a little reading online to catch up on the news in Italy.”

“Still haven’t broken down and gotten yourself a high-speed connection at home, eh?” Sheffield chided him.

“Afraid not,” Giancarlo admitted, “but it’s on my list of things to do.”

“Yes, and I’ll believe that when I see it,” chuckled his friend. “So, tell me what you have been up to this summer.”

“Not all that much, I’m afraid,” replied Giancarlo, “other than giving some Italian lessons.”

“Italian lessons?” said Sheffield, eyebrows raised. “I thought you had given that up, at least for this year. What was it you said to me at the end of this past semester? ‘I’m tired, and I’m taking the summer off to do absolutely nothing and go absolutely nowhere.’ What happened to change your mind?”

Giancarlo gave a shrug.

“The young man who came to me for lessons was quite enthusiastic about it,” he offered by way of explanation. “It was hard to tell him no. Just the same, at first I wasn’t going to do it, for exactly the reasons you said.” He paused for a moment and looked away to the quad. “But I don’t know,” he went on, “I’m glad I did it now. It hasn’t been the chore I thought it was going to be. Actually, I’ve rather enjoyed it. He has worked very hard and made a great deal of progress, a remarkable amount really.”

Giancarlo was telling the truth. He truly had been enjoying the lessons. Carter’s enthusiasm, however, had been only part of his own motivation in taking him on as a pupil. Giancarlo had reasons of his own for doing so, but those were his own affair. He decided that he had said enough on this subject.

“How about you, Henry?” he asked. “What have you been doing to keep yourself occupied so far this summer, and what is this idea you said you wanted to talk to me about?”

Sheffield gave a little cough to clear his throat and shifted uneasily in his chair, making Giancarlo suspect that in some unexpected way he was about to be put on the spot.

“Here’s what I was thinking,” his friend said, leaning closer. “The other day we were knocking around some ideas for the upcoming year, and the idea of holding a benefit concert put on by the music department came up.”

“It just came up?”

“Well, actually, I brought it up,” Sheffield admitted.

“I thought so,” said Giancarlo. “And who exactly would this concert benefit?”