“To what, cara Signora? She was perfectly free. Your lamented father was dead—and she had not yet contracted her second marriage.”
“If she was intending to marry again, it was all the more reason she should have been careful.”
I looked at her a moment; she met my eyes gravely, over the top of her fan. “Are you very careful?” I said.
She dropped her fan with a certain violence. “Ah, yes, you are impertinent!”
“Ah no,” I said. “Remember that I am old enough to be your father; that I knew you when you were three years old. I may surely ask such questions. But you are right; one must do your mother justice. She was certainly thinking of her second marriage.”
“You have not forgiven her that!” said the Countess, very gravely.
“Have you?” I asked, more lightly.
“I don’t judge my mother. That is a mortal sin. My stepfather was very kind to me.”
“I remember him,” I said; “I saw him a great many times—your mother already received him.”
My hostess sat with lowered eyes, saying nothing; but she presently looked up.