Could you not spare me an hour or two in the week, professore ?" Here was a new complication.

Nino had certainly not contemplated setting up for an Italian teacher to all the world when he undertook to give lessons to Hedwig.
"Signora--" he began, in a protesting voice.
"You will do it to oblige me, I am sure," she said, eagerly, and her slight hand just pressed upon his arm a little.

Nino had found time to reflect that this lady was intimate with Hedwig, and that he might possibly gain an opportunity of seeing the girl he loved if he accepted the offer.
"Whenever it pleases you, signora," he said at length.
"Can you come to me to-morrow at eleven ?" she asked.
"At twelve, if you please, signora, or half past.

Eleven is the contessina's hour to-morrow." "At half-past twelve, then, to-morrow," said she, and she gave him her address, as they went out into the street.

"Stop," she added, "where do you live ?" "Number twenty-seven Santa Catarina dei Funari," he answered, wondering why she asked.