“I cannot guess, Signor Carella. I am here on business.”
“But try.”
“I cannot; I hardly know you.”
“But we are old friends,” he said, “and your approval will be grateful to me. You gave it me once before. Will you give it now?”
“I have not come as a friend this time,” she answered stiffly. “I am not likely, Signor Carella, to approve of anything you do.”
“Oh, Signorina!” He laughed, as if he found her piquant and amusing. “Surely you approve of marriage?”
“Where there is love,” said Miss Abbott, looking at him hard. His face had altered in the last year, but not for the worse, which was baffling.
“Where there is love,” said he, politely echoing the English view. Then he smiled on her, expecting congratulations.
“Do I understand that you are proposing to marry again?”
He nodded.