And I am quite sure that if I gave you my history you would not
understand four-fifths of it, and the other fifth would shock you. Of
course it would--how could it be otherwise? How could you and I look at
anything from quite the same point of view?"
"And yet we often agree," said Beatrice, thoughtfully.
"Yes, we do. That is quite true. And that is because a certain sympathy
exists between us. I feel that very much when I am with you, and that is
one reason why I try to be with you as much as possible."
"You say that is one reason. Have you many others?" Beatrice tried to
laugh a little, but she felt somehow that laughter was out of place and
that a serious moment in her life had come at last, in which it would be
wiser to be grave and to think well of what she was doing.
"One chief one, and many little ones," answered San Miniato. "You are
good to me, you are young, you are fresh--you are gifted and unlike the
others, and you have a rare charm such as I never met in any woman. Are
those not all good reasons? Are they not enough?"
"If they were all true, they would be more than enough. Is the chief
reason the last?"
"It is the last of all.
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