Finally he pushed open a little gate and passed up a tiled walk which led between a little border of rose trees to a small white villa, covered with creepers.

A slim, girlish figure came suddenly out from the porch and danced towards him with outstretched hands.
"At last!" she exclaimed.

"At last! Tell me, my co-guardian, how you are going to excuse yourself ?" He took her outstretched hands and looked down into her face.

She was very small and dark, with lustrous brown eyes and a very sensitive mouth, which just now was quivering with excitement.
"All the excuses have gone out of my head, Felicia," he declared.

"You look such a little elf in the moonlight that I can't do more than say that I am sorry.