My practice was so much the contrary that I really couldn’t deny the force of her reasoning. She held out the rose. I seized it and pressed it close to my lips, thereby squashing it considerably.
“Dear me,” said the signorina, “I wonder if I had given you the other thing whether you would have treated it so roughly.”
“I’ll show you in a moment,” said I. — “Thank you, no, not just now,” she said, showing no alarm, for she knew she was safe with me. Then she said abruptly:
“Are you a Constitutionalist or a Liberal, Mr. Martin?”
I must explain that, in the usual race for the former title, the President’s party had been first at the post, and the colonel’s gang (as I privately termed it) had to put up with the alternative designation. Neither name bore any relation to facts.
“Are we going to talk politics?” said I reproachfully.
“Yes, a little; you see we got to an impasse on the other topic. Tell me.”
“Which are you, signorina?” I asked.
I really wanted to know; so did a great many people.
She thought for a moment, and then said: