vecchiezza!_"

For a moment Craven felt hot with a sort of intimate anger; but the
guitars began "Santa Lucia," and took him away again to Naples. And what
is the use of being angry with the Italian point of view? As well be
angry with the Mediterranean for being a tideless sea. But he glanced
at the profile and remembered the words, and could not help wondering
whether Miss Van Tuyn's cult for Lady Sellingworth had its foundations
in self-love rather than in attraction to her whom Braybrooke had called
"the most charming _old_ woman in London."

Presently Miss Van Tuyn, turning three-quarters face, sent him a
"coffee-look," and he saw that a coffee apparatus of the hour-glass type
was being placed on the table by the window. He nodded, but held up a
clean spoon to indicate that his zabaione had yet to be swallowed.
She smiled, understanding, and spoke again to Lady Sellingworth. A few
minutes later Craven left his table and joined them, taking his Toscana
with him.

They were charmingly prepared for his advent. Three cups were on the
table, and coffee for three was mounting in the hour glass. The two
friends were smoking cigarettes.

As he prepared to sit down on the chair placed ready for him with his
back to the window, Miss Van Tuyn said:

"One minute! Please give the musicians this!"

She put five shillings into his hand.