"It was all my fault, for I was teasing you for the mere fun of the thing. I was nothing but a silly school-girl then."
"Yes. You have changed, too."
"Am I at all what you expected I should be?" Aurora asked, after a moment's silence.
Marcello glanced at her, and clasped his hands over his knee more tightly than ever.
"I wish you were not," he answered in a low voice.
"Don't wish that." Her tone was even lower than his.
Neither spoke again for some time, and they did not look at each other. But the flames flickering in the small fireplace seemed to be talking, like a third person in the room. Aurora moved at last, and changed her position.
"I am glad that you have quarrelled with your stepfather," she said. "He meant to do you all the harm he could. He meant you to die of the life you were leading."
"You know that?" Marcello looked up quickly.
"Yes. I have heard my mother and Professor Kalmon talking about it when they thought I was not listening. I always pretend that I am not listening when anybody talks about you." She laughed a little. "It is so much simpler," she added, as if to explain. "The Professor said that your stepfather was killing you by inches. Those were his words."