Nobody answered the first ring, and Constance pulled again with a force which sent a jangle of bells echoing through the interior.

After a second's wait--snortingly impatient on Mr.Wilder's part; he was being pressed close by the none too clean citizens of Valedolmo--the door was opened a very small crack by a frowsy jailoress.

Her eye fell first upon the crowd, and she was disposed to close it again; but in the act she caught sight of the Signorina Americana dressed in white, smiling above a bouquet of oleanders.

Her eyes widened with astonishment.

It was long since such an apparition had presented itself at that door.