Mr. King colored to the temples; but he replied calmly:  “I know not whether Miss Royal recognizes me; for I have never seen her since the evening we spent so delightfully at her father’s house.”

“I do recognize you,” replied Rosabella; “and as the son of my father’s dearest friend, I welcome you.”

She held out her hand as she spoke, and he clasped it for an instant.  But though the touch thrilled him, he betrayed no emotion.  Relinquishing it with a respectful bow, he turned to Mr. Fitzgerald, and said:  “You have seen fit to call me a Puritan, and may not therefore accept me as a teacher of politeness; but if you wish to sustain the character of a cavalier, you surely will not remain in a lady’s house after she has requested you to quit it.”

With a slight shrug of his shoulders, Mr. Fitzgerald took his hat, and said, “Where ladies command, I am of course bound to obey.”

As he passed out of the door, he turned toward Rosabella, and, with a low bow, said, “Au revoir!”

The Signor was trembling with anger, but succeeded in smothering his half-uttered anathemas.  Mr. King compressed his lips tightly for a moment, as if silence were a painful effort.  Then, turning to Rosa, he said:  “Pardon my sudden intrusion, Miss Royal.  Your father introduced me to the Signor, and I last night saw him at the opera.  That will account for my being in his room to-day.”  He glanced at the Italian with a smile, as he added:  “I heard very angry voices, and I thought, if there was to be a duel, perhaps the Signor would need a second.  You must be greatly fatigued with exertion and excitement.  Therefore, I will merely congratulate you on your brilliant success last evening, and wish you good morning.”

“I am fatigued,” she replied; “but if I bid you good morning now, it is with the hope of seeing you again soon.  The renewal of acquaintance with one whom my dear father loved is too pleasant to be willingly relinquished.”

“Thank you,” he said.  But the simple words were uttered with a look and tone so deep and earnest, that she felt the color rising to her cheeks.

“Am I then still capable of being moved by such tones?” she asked herself, as she listened to his departing footsteps, and, for the first time that morning, turned toward the mirror and glanced at her own flushed countenance.

“What a time you’ve been having, dear!” exclaimed Madame, who came bustling in a moment after.  “Only to think of Mr. Fitzgerald’s coming here!  His impudence goes a little beyond anything I ever heard of.  Wasn’t it lucky that Boston friend should drop down from the skies, as it were, just at the right minute; for the Signor’s such a flash-in-the-pan, there ’s no telling what might have happened.  Tell me all about it, dear.”

“I will tell you about it, dear mamma,” replied Rosa; “but I must beg you to excuse me just now; for I am really very much flurried and fatigued.  If you hadn’t gone out, I should have told you this morning, at breakfast, that I saw Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald at the opera, and that I was singing at them in good earnest, while people thought I was acting.  We will talk it all over some time; but now I must study, for I shall have hard work to keep the ground I have gained.  You know I must perform again to-night.  O, how I dread it!”