"You gave me a slightly different version."
"Now you're trying to be witty," said Marianna, "but it's no use. You can't be witty, except for women you wish to please, and you don't in the least wish to please me."
"Oh, yes, I wish to please you," said Massimo; "it's the sole object of my life."
"Well, I don't appreciate your jokes. There are plenty of women very inferior to me, and you won't succeed in pleasing even them."
"I shall succeed with the superior ones, perhaps."
"I don't think there are many women superior to me; if there are, you'll never get within a stone's throw of them."
"Then I suppose I'm one of the inferiors?" said Regina, for the sake of saying something.
"Yes, because you're married. A superior woman never marries. Or if in some spell of unconsciousness she does take a husband, she repents at once. If I wished to pay you a compliment, I should say I believe you are repenting."
"By Jove!" said Antonio, "that's not a matter of joke."
"Do you always tell the Princess the truth?" asked Regina.