"
Diana felt that the acquaintance was progressing rather faster than she
could have wished, but she hardly knew how to check it. Finally she
mustered up courage to say firmly:--
"It must only be if I pay for my own dinner."
"But, of course," he answered courteously, with the slightest tinge of
surprise in his tones, and once again Diana, felt that she had made a
fool of herself and blushed to the tips of her ears.
A faint smile trembled for an instant on his lips, and then, without
apparently noticing her confusion, he began to talk, passing easily from
one subject to another until she had regained her confidence, finally
leading her almost imperceptibly into telling him about herself.
In the middle of dinner she paused, aghast at her own loquacity.
"But what a horrible egotist you must think me!" she exclaimed. "I've
been talking about my own affairs all the time."
"Not at all. I'm interested. This Signor Baroni who is training your
voice--he is the finest teacher in the world. You must have a very
beautiful voice for him to have accepted you as a pupil." There was a
hint of surprise in his tones.
"Oh, no," she hastened to assure him modestly. "I expect it was more
that I had the luck to catch him in a good mood that afternoon."
"And his moods vary considerably, don't they?" he said, smiling as though
at some personal recollection.
"Oh, do you know him?" asked Diana eagerly.
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