'I am told a cousin of your sister has come to Forli. Is he here
to-day?'
He looked at me inquiringly, not immediately understanding.
'Giorgio dall' Aste,' I explained.
'Oh, I didn't know you meant him. No, he's not here. He and Giulia's
husband were not friends, and so--'
'Why were they not friends?' I interrupted, on the spur of the moment,
not seeing the impertinence of the question till I had made it.
'Oh, I don't know. Relations always are at enmity with one another;
probably some disagreement with regard to their estates.'
'Was that all?'
'So far as I know.'
I recollected that in a scandal the persons most interested are the last
to hear it. The husband hears nothing of his wife's treachery till all
the town knows every detail.
'I should like to have seen him,' I went on.
'Giorgo? Oh, he's a weak sort of creature; one of those men who commit
sins and repent!'
'That is not a fault of which you will ever be guilty, Alessandro,' I
said, smiling.
'I sincerely hope not. After all, if a man has a conscience he ought not
to do wrong. But if he does he must be a very poor sort of a fool to
repent.'
'You cannot have the rose without the thorn.'
'Why not? It only needs care. There are dregs at the bottom of every
cup, but you are not obliged to drink them.'
'You have made up your mind that if you commit sins you are ready to go
to hell for them?' I said.
'It is braver than going to Heaven by the back door, turning pious when
you are too old to do anything you shouldn't.'
'I agree with you that one has little respect for the man who turns monk
when things go wrong with him.'
I saw that Giulia was alone, and seized the opportunity to speak with
her.
'Giulia,' I said, approaching.
She looked at me for a moment with an air of perplexity, as if she
really could not remember whom I was.
'Ah, Messer Filippo!' she said, as if suddenly recollecting.
'It is not so long since we met that you can have forgotten me.'
'Yes. I remember last time you did me the honour to visit me you were
very rude and cross.'