“Yes.”
“Is she very pretty?”
Sanin was slightly stung by this last question…. However, there was no drawing back.
“You know, Maria Nikolaevna,” he began, “every man thinks the face of his beloved better than all others; but my betrothed is really beautiful.”
“Really? In what style? Italian? antique?”
“Yes; she has very regular features.”
“You have not got her portrait with you?”
“No.” (At that time photography was not yet talked off. Daguerrotypes had hardly begun to be common.)
“What’s her name?”
“Her name is Gemma.”