“That, of course, might happen, but I don’t choose to entertain such unpleasant thoughts; I prefer to think of myself as loving you to all eternity. It is certain at all events that no other woman in Milan has attracted me.”
“Not the pretty girl who waited on us, and whose arms you have possibly left an hour or, two ago?”
“What are you saying? She is the wife of the tailor who made your clothes. She left directly after you, and her husband would not have allowed her to come at all if he was not aware that she would be wanted to wait on the ladies whose dresses he had made.”
“She is wonderfully pretty. Is it possible that you are not in love with her?”
“How could one love a woman who is at the disposal of a low, ugly fellow? The only pleasure she gave me was by talking of you this morning.”
“Of me?”
“Yes. You will excuse me if I confess to having asked her which of the ladies she waited on looked handsomest without her chemise.”
“That was a libertine’s question. Well, what did she say?”
“That the lady with the beautiful hair was perfect in every respect.”
“I don’t believe a word of it. I have learnt how to change my chemise with decency, and so as not to shew anything I might not shew a man. She only wished to flatter your impertinent curiosity. If I had a maid like that, she should soon go about her business.”