"
"That was an excellent answer!" said Christina, softly. "Yet it was a
little your business, after those sublime protestations I treated you
to. I was really very fine that morning, eh?"
"You do yourself injustice," said Rowland. "I should be at liberty now
to believe you were insincere."
"What does it matter now whether I was insincere or not? I can't
conceive of anything mattering less. I was very fine--is n't it true?"
"You know what I think of you," said Rowland. And for fear of being
forced to betray his suspicion of the cause of her change, he took
refuge in a commonplace. "Your mother, I hope, is well."
"My mother is in the enjoyment of superb health, and may be seen
every evening at the Casino, at the Baths of Lucca, confiding to every
new-comer that she has married her daughter to a pearl of a prince."
Rowland was anxious for news of Mrs. Light's companion, and the natural
course was frankly to inquire about him. "And the Cavaliere Giacosa is
well?" he asked.
Christina hesitated, but she betrayed no other embarrassment. "The
Cavaliere has retired to his native city of Ancona, upon a pension, for
the rest of his natural life.
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