After these remarks we left the two sisters together and went into my room, where he said,—
“Your Rosalie is contented, and you ought to congratulate yourself on having made her happy, as I am sure she will be. The only thing that vexes me is that you can’t go and see her yourself with any decency.”
“You are in love with her, my lord.”
“I confess that I am, but I am an old man, and it vexes me.”
“That’s no matter, she will love you tenderly; and if Petri ever becomes her husband, I am sure she will never be anything more than a good friend to him. Write to me at Florence and tell me how she receives him.”
“Stay here for another three days; the two beauties there will make the time seem short.”
“It’s exactly for that reason that I want to go tomorrow. I am afraid of Veronique.”
“I shouldn’t have thought that you would have allowed any woman to frighten you.”
“I am afraid she has cast her fatal nets around me, and when the time comes she will be strictly moral. Rosalie is my only love.”
“Well, here’s a letter from her.”