"Why, I can see from here that your face is swollen and your eyes red, my dear girl. What heart-breaking grief can one have at your age, lovely, and beloved by all, as you are?"
"Don't laugh at me, I beg you," said Mila, proudly. But she turned pale, and trying to sit down calmly, fell sobbing upon her chair.
Magnani had so little suspicion that he could possibly be anything more than a friend in her eyes, and his feeling for her was so placid that he no longer thought of leaving her. He approached her without any other emotion than affectionate interest, sat down at her feet on a cushion of plaited straw, and, taking her hand in his, questioned her with an assumption of something like paternal authority.
Poor Mila was so perturbed that she had not the strength to repel him. It was the first time that he had ever spoken to her so near and with such evident affection. Oh! how happy she would have been but for the fatal words that Michel had said to her! But those words were still ringing in her ears, and Mila was too proud to allow her secret to be suspected. She made a mighty effort, and answered with a smile that her trouble was a matter of little importance, and was due simply to a little quarrel she had had with her brother.
"Michel quarrel with you, my poor angel?" said Magnani, watching her carefully; "is it possible? Oh! no! you are mistaken. Michel loves you more than all the world, and he is quite right. If you had quarreled, he would be here, as I am, at your feet, and much more eloquent than I to comfort you; for he is your brother, and I am only your friend. But, however that may be, I am going to find him; I will scold him roundly, if he is in the wrong. But it will be enough for him to see you cast down and changed as you are, to make him much unhappier than you."
"Magnani," said Mila, detaining him as he rose, "I forbid you to go and find Michel. That would be giving too much importance to a piece of childish folly. Pay no more attention to it, and do not speak of it to him or to my father. I assure you that I have already forgotten it, and that my brother and I will be entirely reconciled to-night."
"If it is only a childish quarrel," said Magnani, sitting down beside her, "why, your susceptibilities are altogether too keen, my dear Mila. I have sisters too, and when I was not so sensible as I am now, when I was Michel's age, I used to tease them a little. But they didn't cry; they paid back my mischief with interest, and I always came out second best."
"That was because they had spirit, and apparently I haven't enough to defend myself," replied Mila, sadly.
"You have a great deal of spirit, Mila, I have noticed that; you are not Pier-Angelo's daughter and Michel's sister for nothing, and you have a better education than the other young women of your station. But you have more heart than spirit, since you can defend yourself only with your tears!"
Magnani's praise comforted and pained the girl at the same time. She was flattered to find that, while not seeming to pay any heed to her, he had observed her closely enough to be able to do her justice. But the tranquil kindliness of his manner told her plainly enough that Michel had not deceived her.