This state of resignation surprised Luis and he could not help feeling somewhat taken aback.
"And you, too, will be happy?" he timidly asked.
"I? what does it signify if I am happy or unhappy?" she said, shrugging her shoulders disdainfully.
"Don't say that, Amalia! Happiness is not that madness to which we have given ourselves up these seven years. There is a taste of bitterness in that, which I have noticed for some time and which you will soon perceive. A pure, worthy life, a quiet conscience, and the esteem of honourable persons will give you more pleasure than criminal passion. Besides, you have what I have not; you have an angel with you, a fragrant, beautiful lily that will sweeten your existence."
"Ah, yes, Josefina! Really, so she is to be the one who is to afford me my only pleasant times in the future!"
This was said with such a strange inflexion of voice, so sharp and so strident that Luis shivered.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I mean what I say, that it is fortunate I have Josefina to cheer me."
"But you say it in such a strange way."
The Valencian then gave a curious forced laugh of sinister sound that came from the back of her throat.