"No; I don't want to make you believe don't care a straw whether
you, believe it or it is the fact for all that," returned Ludovico.
"Ludovico has enough on his hands in quarter. What would they say
about it in the Via Santa Eufemia if he were to bow down to new and
strange goddesses?" said Manutoli.
"That, if you please, Manutoli, we will not discuss either now or at
any other time," said Ludovico, with a look that showed he was in
earnest. "But, as for La Diva Bianca, I have no objection to tell
all I know to anybody. My belief is that she is as correct and
proper, and all that sort of thing, as a Vestal."
"Che!"
"Che!"
"Che!"
A chorus of protestations of incredulity in every tone of the gamut
met the monstrous assertion.
"What, after all we heard of her doings at Milan--after all the
histories of her goddess-ship in every city of Italy?" said
Manutoli.
"Well, what did we hear of her doings at Milan? The fact is, we know
nothing about the matter; and as to her previous history--of course
I don't suppose that she is, and always has been, a Diana; but it
may be that she has come to the time when she has thought it well to
turn over a new leaf. Such times do come to such women; but all I
know is, that I firmly believe that since she has been here she has
lived the life of a nun," said Ludovico, in the simple tone of a man
who is stating a truth which he has no interest in causing his
hearers to credit or discredit.
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