But remember, _piano--piano--pianissimo_!" And with a reassuring pat on the shoulder he pushed the young man affectionately through the doorway and closed the door behind him.
So he had not been dismissed in disgrace after all! Diana breathed a sigh of relief, and, looking up, found Signor Baroni regarding her with a large and benevolent smile.
"You theenk I was too severe with him ?" he said placidly.

"But no.

He is like iron, that young man; he wants hammer-blows." "I think he got them," replied Diana crisply, and then stopped, aghast at her own temerity.

She glanced anxiously at Baroni to see if he had resented her remark, only to find him surveying her with a radiant smile and looking exactly like a large, pleased child.
"We shall get on, the one with the other," he observed contentedly.
"Yes, we shall get on.

And now--who are you?
I do not remember names"-- with a terrific roll of his R's--"but you haf a very pree-ty face--and I never forget a pree-ty face." "I'm--I'm Diana Quentin," she blurted out, nervousness once more overpowering her as she realised that the moment of her ordeal was approaching.