“He an adventurer? No, I think not. At any rate, he did me a great service.”
“But he may have designs upon you.”
“Yes, people may have designs upon me,” replied Luigia, with dignity, “but they cannot execute them: between those designs and me, there is myself.”
“But your reputation?”
“That was lost before I left your house. I was said to be your mistress; you had yourself to contradict that charge before the electoral college; you contradicted it, but you could not stop it.”
“And my esteem, for which you profess to care?”
“I no longer want it. You did not love me when I wished for it; you shall not love me now that I no longer wish it.”
“Who knows?” exclaimed Sallenauve.
“There are two reasons why it cannot be,” said the singer. “In the first place, it is too late; and in the second, we are no longer on the same path.”
“What do you mean by that?”