I went home with the idea of dining by myself, but I found a note from the Marchioness d'Aout, reproaching me in a friendly manner for not having broken bread with her, and inviting me to dinner. I resolved to accept the invitation, and when I got to the house I found the young Florentine already there.
It was at this dinner that I found out many of his good qualities, and I saw that Donna Leonilda had not said too much in his favour.
Towards the end of the meal the marchioness asked why I had not stayed till the end of the opera.
"Because the young ladies were getting tired."
"I have found out that they do not belong to the Venetian ambassador's household.
"You are right, and I hope you will pardon my small fiction."
"It was an impromptu effort to avoid telling me who they are, but they are known."
"Then I congratulate the curious."
"The one I addressed deserves to excite general curiosity; but if I were in your place I should make her use a little powder."
"I have not the authority to do so, and if I had, I would not trouble her for the world."