"As thou sayest, he is strong and very masterful," she said. "How did he woo me? Why, as ever a man wooes a maid, I suppose."
"You suppose?" said Nigidia, sweetly, with a glance at the others. "Do you not know? Has none sought you in marriage before?"
Varia shook her head. She knew not how to parry their curiosity; they, seeing this, were the more curious.
"No," she confessed, low-voiced.
They looked at her and at each other with round eyes of wonder in which laughter lurked.
"Thy husband thy first lover!" Nigidia exclaimed, as one incredulous. "Poor little thing! Girls, is this not sad to hear? But then, poor child, how couldst thou help it, shut away in here where thou canst see never a man at all?"
"Oh, I have seen a man!" Varia cried eagerly. "It is not quite so bad with me as that! A man like unto no other man in the world, I think!" Her face flushed, her eyes shone. Again a glance went round. "He, too, is strong and masterful, but tender—ah, so tender!" She clasped her hands; her lips trembled.
"So, it is he whom thou lovest?" said Paula.
Again the old pained bewilderment grew in Varia's eyes.
"I—do not know," she faltered.