I did not disguise how much superior I thought him to
the youth I knew. I was very glad he had found such a friend, and hoped
the young man would come often to see us, and be very successful in his
profession.
"Then I was silent. I did not say that I had never lived until that
evening. I did not say how my heart was chilled, because, in leaving the
room, Luigi's last glance had not been for me, but for Fiora.
"Camillo did not praise him much. It was not his way; but I felt how
deeply he honored and loved him, and was rejoiced to think that necessity
would often bring us together; only my mother seemed serious, and I knew
what her gravity meant.
"'Do not be alarmed, dear mother,' I said to her, as I was leaving the
room.
"'My daughter,' she answered, with infinite pride, 'it is not possible. I
do not understand you. And you, my daughter, you do not understand
yourself nor the world."
"She was mistaken. Myself I did understand; the world I did not."
Again the Marchesa was silent and tears stood in her eyes. She was seventy
years old. Yes, but in love's calendar there is no December.
"The days passed, and we saw Luigi constantly.
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