"N'est ce pas? In the worst possible humour!"
"It's not true!" protested Regina, "quite the contrary; I am extremely cheerful."
However, Madame was tiresome enough to observe that during dinner Regina spoke very little.
"I like to be silent! I like listening," explained the bride, rather shortly.
"Well," said the Princess, "there's a certain cachet about a young woman who doesn't talk. A woman's silence suggests something mysterious, something occult; even something charming. Georges Sand spoke little. One of my uncles was her intimate friend, and he told me Georges was designedly silent."
"Perhaps you yourself knew Georges Sand?" said Massimo ungallantly.
"No," replied Madame, unmoved.
"Her mother, perhaps?" murmured Antonio.
"Beg pardon?"