But here, again, as the lawyers say, "locus regit actum." That which
the English girl feels, under such circumstances, so naturally, that
she deems it an inseparable part of her nature that she should so
feel, she feels because of the teaching of the whole social
atmosphere in which she has lived. The Italian girl, in the position
of Paolina, does not feel it, because she has lived in a very
different social atmosphere.
It is quite certain that Paolina,--if the question, whether it was
in anywise on the cards that the Marchese Ludovico di Castelmare had
conceived, or was likely to conceive, any project of marrying her,
Paolina Foscarelli, had suggested itself, or had been suggested, to
her at any time during those eight months,--would at once have
replied to her own heart or to any other person, that such an idea
was utterly preposterous and out of the question.
But he had been striving to convince her that he loved her by every
means in his power for months past, and had succeeded in so
convincing her. Was he merely playing with her? That idea never
entered into her head. As she, with sad and transparent frankness,
had told him, neither of them could doubt the love of the other.
What doubt could remain, then, as to the alternative? What doubt of
the atrocious nature of his designs and intentions towards her? No
doubt at all.
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