The next to arrive was the lecturer, and as he stepped up to the rostrum Joanna looked up eagerly. The disappointment was intense. There, standing above her was an emaciated, tall old man, bearded and rather bent. Surely there was some mistake! Surely Dr. Cellebrini – the real Dr. Cellebrini – must be ill, and this old man had come to tell them so. So firm was her dream that it had to persist a little in the face of reality. But the next instant she knew that there had been no mistake except her own. She had believed, because she had so strongly desired the likely thing to be true.

There was no lecture that day, and Dr. Cellebrini told them that unless at least six students were forthcoming there could be no class that session. This had been decided by the Senate. He took down their names, however, and Joanna learned that Mrs. Lovatt’s Christian name was Mildred. The dark boy, who mumbled his name with a Scotch tongue, was called Lawrence Urquhart.

He left the class-room while Joanna was helping Mrs. Lovatt to collect her scattered belongings. Some coloured beads had rolled out of a leather wallet on to the floor, and the two in picking them up became still more friendly. Mrs. Lovatt hoped that Joanna would come to one of her informal Friday evenings, and if no more students turned up she had the idea of having an Italian class in her own house.

They went out together, and as they passed from the darkness of the cloisters to daylight, the sound of a door closing made them both look back. Between the broad, stone pillars a man was hastening in their direction. Joanna could not see his face, but she knew him instantly for her foreigner.

“It is Rasponi, isn’t it?” exclaimed Mrs. Lovatt, screwing up short-sighted eyes. “The very man I want to speak to.” And leaving her companion, she ran impulsively towards the Italian.

Joanna was shaken, and she became half dead with embarrassment. Should she go slowly on? Should she wait? Should she hurry off? No doubt the right thing would be for her simply to disappear. But her fiercer longing chained her feet to the spot; and in a few seconds she was joined by the others.