Young and
vivacious women are peculiarly subject to this sort of sensitiveness, as
he was well aware. There was nothing to be done but to be quiet,
attentive in small things, and to wait for fair weather again. After
all, he had crossed the Rubicon, and had been very well received on the
other side. It would not be easy to make him go back again.
"My angel," said the Marchesa, throwing away the end of her cigarette,
"you have caught cold. We must go home immediately."
"Yes, mamma."
With all her languor and laziness and selfishness, the Marchesa was not
devoid of tact, least of all where her own ends were concerned, and when
she took the trouble to have any object in life at all. She saw in her
daughter's face that something had annoyed her, and she at once
determined that no reference should be made to the great business of the
moment, and that it would be best to end the evening in general
conversation, leaving San Miniato no further opportunity of being alone
with Beatrice. She guessed well enough that the girl was not really in
love, but had yielded in a measure to the man's practised skill in
love-making, but she was really anxious that the result should be
permanent.
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