'You know, when one is young one should make the most of one's time.
Fidelity is a stupid virtue, unphilosophical and extremely
unfashionable.'
'What do you mean?'
'Simply this; you did not particularly love me, and I did not
particularly love you.'
'Oh!'
'We had a passing fancy for one another, and that satisfied there was
nothing more to keep us together. We should have been very foolish not
to break the chain; if you had not done so, I should have. With your
woman's intuition, you saw that and forestalled me!'
Again she did not answer.
'Of course, if you had been in love with me, or I with you, it would
have been different. But as it was--'
'I see my cousin Violante in the corner there; will you lead me to her?'