"
"That's true, bambina mia, poveretta. And I am sure I have nothing
to say against it if you can fancy this Marchese a gay and handsome
young cavalier."
"Handsome he is, as far as that goes. I swear he is the handsomest
man I have seen here! His nephew is good-looking enough, but he is
not to be compared to his uncle either in face or person."
"Well, whether you have succeeded or not in making the Marchese in
love with you, cara mia, I begin to think that you have succeeded
already in falling in love with him," said Quinto, looking at her
with raised eyebrows.
Bianca remained silent awhile, nodding her head up and down in a
sort of reverie, and then said, rousing herself with a shake of her
flowing curls as she looked up, "No; not quite that. But I won't say
that it is impossible that if I am to make him love me, I may come
to love him in the doing of it. You see, amico mio, it is something
new. It is not the old weary mill-round. He did not come to me with
the set purpose of making love to me, as all those young fellows
have done, and do, just because they have nothing else to amuse
them; because it's the fashion; because it's a feather in their
caps; because it's the thing to have a prima donna for their
mistress! If the Marchese has fallen, or falls, in love with me, he
does so because he cannot help himself, he does it in despite of
himself; and that flatters a woman, Quinto.
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