Marcello was so completely puzzled by this extraordinary statement that he could find nothing to say for a few moments. Then he felt that she had attacked his idol, and that Folco must be defended.
"If you could find a single thing, however small, to bring against him, it would not be so silly to say that his eyes frighten you."
"There!" laughed Aurora. "You might as well say that because at this moment there is only that one little cloud near the sun, there is no cloud at all!"
"How ridiculous!" Marcello expressed his contempt of such girlish reasoning by putting his rough little horse to a gallop.
"Men always say that," retorted Aurora, with exasperating calm. "I'll race you to the tower for the first choice of oranges at dessert. They are not very good this year, you know, and you like them."
"Don't be silly!" Marcello immediately reined his horse back to a walk, and looked very dignified.
"It is impossible to please you," observed Aurora, slackening her pace at once.
"It is impossible, if you abuse Folco."
"I am sure I did not mean to abuse him," Aurora answered meekly. "I never abuse anybody."
"Women never do, I suppose," retorted Marcello, with a little snort of dissatisfaction.