Obediently the young man opened his mouth, and in a magnificent baritone voice declaimed that reverently, and from a great way off, he ventured to worship at his beloved’s shrine, while Diana listened spell-bound.

If this were the only sort of voice Baroni condescended to train, what chance had she?  And the young man’s singing seemed so finished, the fervour of his passion was so vehemently rendered, that she humbly wondered that there still remained anything for him to learn.  It was almost like listening to a professional.

Quite suddenly Baroni dropped his hands from the piano and surveyed the singer with such an eloquent mixture of disgust and bitter contempt in his extraordinarily expressive eyes that Diana positively jumped.

“Ach!  So that is your idea of a humble suitor, is it?” he said, and though he never raised his voice above the rather husky, whispering tones that seemed habitual to him, it cut like a lash.  Later, Diana was to learn that Baroni’s most scathing criticisms and most furious reproofs were always delivered in a low, half-whispering tone that fairly seared the victim.  “That is your idea, then—­to shout, and yell, and bellow your love like a caged bull?  When will you learn that music is not noise, and that love—­love”—­and the odd, husky voice thrilled suddenly to a note as soft and tender as the cooing of a wood-pigeon—­“can be expressed piano—­ah, but pianissimo—­as well as by blowing great blasts of sound from those leathern bellows which you call your lungs?”

The too-forceful baritone stood abashed, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other.  With a swift motion Baroni swept up the music from the piano and shovelled it pell-mell into the young man’s arms.

“Oh, go away, go away!” he said impatiently.  “You are a voice—­just a voice—­and nothing more.  You will nevaire be an artist!” And he turned his back on him.

Very dejectedly the young man made his way towards the door, whilst Diana, overcome with sympathy and horror at his abrupt dismissal, could hardly refrain from rushing forward to intercede for him.

And then, to her intense amazement, Baroni whisked suddenly round, and following the young man to the door, laid his hand on his shoulder.

“Au revoir, mon brave,” he said, with the utmost bonhomie.  “Bring the song next time and we will go through it again.  But do not be discouraged—­no, for there is no need.  It will come—­it will come.  But remember, piano—­piano—­pianissimo!”

And with a reassuring pat on the shoulder he pushed the young man affectionately through the doorway and closed the door behind him.

So he had not been dismissed in disgrace after all!  Diana breathed a sigh of relief, and, looking up, found Signor Baroni regarding her with a large and benevolent smile.

“You theenk I was too severe with him?” he said placidly.  “But no.  He is like iron, that young man; he wants hammer-blows.”