And in this it seemed to Rowland there was a touch of bitterness.
Very late on the following evening his servant brought him the card of a visitor.

He was surprised at a visit at such an hour, but it may be said that when he read the inscription--Cavaliere Giuseppe Giacosa--his surprise declined.

He had had an unformulated conviction that there was to be a sequel to the apparition at Madame Grandoni's; the Cavaliere had come to usher it in.
He had come, evidently, on a portentous errand.

He was as pale as ashes and prodigiously serious; his little cold black eye had grown ardent, and he had left his caressing smile at home.

He saluted Rowland, however, with his usual obsequious bow.
"You have more than once done me the honor to invite me to call upon you," he said.