He was not in love with her; he disapproved of her; he
mistrusted her; and yet he felt it a kind of privilege to watch her, and
he found a peculiar excitement in talking to her. The background of her
nature, as he would have called it, was large and mysterious, and it
emitted strange, fantastic gleams and flashes. Watching for these rather
quickened one's pulses. Moreover, it was not a disadvantage to talk to
a girl who made one keep guard on one's composure; it diminished one's
chronic liability to utter something less than revised wisdom.
Assunta had risen from her prayers, and, as he took his place, was
coming back to her mistress. But Christina motioned her away. "No, no;
while you are about it, say a few dozen more!" she said. "Pray for me,"
she added in English. "Pray, I say nothing silly. She has been at it
half an hour; I envy her capacity!"
"Have you never felt in any degree," Rowland asked, "the fascination of
Catholicism?"
"Yes, I have been through that, too! There was a time when I wanted
immensely to be a nun; it was not a laughing matter. It was when I was
about sixteen years old.
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