I still had my hand on his arm, and I could feel the sudden start he gave.
“Not at all, Miss Beddingfeld, not at all,” he said earnestly. “I should be only too delighted to tell you all about it, but there really are some cables—”
“Oh, Mr. Pagett, what a thin pretence. I shall tell Sir Eustace—”
I got no further. He gave another jump. The man’s nerves seemed in a shocking state.
“What is it you want to know?”
The resigned martyrdom of his tone made me smile inwardly.
“Oh, everything! The pictures, the olive trees …”
I paused, rather at a loss myself.
“I suppose you speak Italian?” I resumed.
“Not a word, unfortunately. But of course, with hall porters and—er—guides.”
“Exactly,” I hastened to reply. “And which was your favourite picture?”
“Oh, er—the Madonna—er—Raphael, you know.”
“Dear old Florence,” I murmured sentimentally. “So picturesque on the banks of the Arno. A beautiful river. And the Duomo, you remember the Duomo?”
“Of course, of course.”
“Another beautiful river, is it not?” I hazarded. “Almost more beautiful than the Arno?”
“Decidedly so, I should say.”