Giuseppe hurrying forward with a polite bow, stopped suddenly and blinked.

He fancied that he must still be dreaming; he rubbed his eyes and stared again, but he found the second inspection more confounding than the first.

The gentleman looked back imperturbably, no slightest shade of recognition in his glance, unless a gleam of amusement far, far down in the depths of his eye might be termed recognition.

He extracted a card with grave deliberation and handed it to his companion.
"_Voglio vedere la Signorina Costantina_," he remarked.
The tone, the foreign accent, were both reminiscent of many a friendly though halting conversation.

Giuseppe stared again, appealingly, but the gentleman did not help him out; on the contrary he repeated his request in a slightly sharpened tone.
"_Si, signore_," Giuseppe stammered.