San Miniato inquired
how the two ladies had slept.
"Admirably," said Beatrice.
"Ah--as for me, dearest friend," said the Marchesa, "you know what a
nervous creature I am. I never sleep."
"You look as though you had rested wonderfully well," observed Beatrice
to San Miniato. "Half a century, at least!"
"Do I?" asked the Count, delighted by her manner and quite without
suspicion.
"Yes. You look twenty years younger."
"About ten years old?" suggested San Miniato with a smile.
"Oh no! I did not mean that. You look about twenty, I should say."
"I am charmed," he answered, without wincing.
"It may be only those beautiful new clothes you have on," said Beatrice
with a sweet smile. "Clothes make so much difference with a man."
San Miniato did not show any annoyance, but he made no direct answer and
turned to the Marchesa.
"Marchesa gentilissima," he said, "you liked my last excursion, or were
good enough to say that you liked it. Would you be horrified if I
proposed another for this evening--but not so far, this time?"
"Absolutely horrified," answered the Marchesa. "But I suppose that if
you have made up your mind you will bring those dreadful men with their
chair, like two gendarmes, and they will take me away, whether I like it
or not.
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