CHAPTER XVIITHE PSYCHOLOGICAL PROBLEM
It was fairly late that evening when Austin Starr arrived at Cacciola’s, having had a hasty meal at a restaurant when he was through with his day’s work.
He had been obliged to decline the maestro’s hospitable invitation to dinner, and had been assured by the old man that it did not matter how late he turned up: “I am not what the English call an early bird!”
Cacciola himself, arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers and carrying a big curved meerschaum pipe in his hand, admitted and welcomed him cordially.
There was no one else in the spacious sitting-room, but Austin’s quick sense of disappointment was speedily banished by his host.
“Sit down, my friend. You will find that chair comfortable. Now, will you have wine—it is here ready? Or wait for the
