“But it’s all rubbish about there being danger in Taormina,” declared Patsy, indignantly.  “Mr. Watson has been in the wilds of the interior, which Baedecker admits is infested with brigands.  Here everyone smiles at us in the friendliest way possible.”

“Except the duke,” added Beth, with a laugh.

“Oh, the duke is sour by nature,” Patsy answered; “but if there really was danger, I’m sure he’d protect us, for he lives here and knows the country.”

“You are sure of a lot of things, dear,” said her cousin, smiling.  “But it will do no harm to heed the advice, and be careful.”

They all agreed to that, and Uncle John was glad to remember he had two brand new revolvers in the bottom of his trunk, which he could use in an emergency if he could manage to find the cartridges to load them with.

He got them out next morning, and warned his nieces not to touch the dangerous things when they entered his room.  But Patsy laughed at him, saying: 

“You are behind the times, Uncle.  Beth has carried a revolver ever since we started.”

“Beth!” he cried, horrified.

“Just as a precaution,” said that young lady, demurely.

“But you’re only a child!”

“Even so, Uncle, I have been taught to shoot in Cloverton, as a part of my education.  Once I won a medal—­think of that!  So I brought my pet revolver along, although I may never have need to use it.”

Uncle John looked thoughtful.

“It doesn’t seem like a girlish accomplishment, exactly,” he mused.  “When I was young and went into the West, the times were a bit unsettled, and I used to carry a popgun myself.  But I never shot at a human being in my life.  There were women in the camps that could shoot, too; but the safest place was always in front of them.  If Beth has won a medal, though, she might hit something.”

“Don’t try, Beth,” said Louise; “you ought to make a hit without shooting.”

“Thank you, dear.”

As they left their hotel for a walk they came upon Count Ferralti, who was standing in the court calmly smoking a cigarette.  His right hand was still in a sling.

No one was greatly surprised at his appearance, but Uncle John uttered an exclamation of impatience.  It annoyed him that this fellow, whose antecedents were decidedly cloudy, should be “chasing around” after one of his nieces, Beth and Patsy smiled at each other significantly as the young man was discovered, but Louise, with a slight blush, advanced to greet Ferralti in her usual pleasant and cordial way.

There was no use resenting the intrusion.  They owed a certain consideration to this boyish Italian for his assistance on the Amalfi road.  But Uncle John almost wished he had left them to escape as best they might, for the obligation was getting to be decidedly onerous.

While Ferralti was expressing his astonishment at so “unexpectedly” meeting again his American friends, Uncle John discovered their English speaking cocchiere, Frascatti Vietri, lolling half asleep on the box of his victoria.