"No," I answered.

"That's strange—if it's true."

"Why should it not be true?" I asked.

"You are so young and good-looking."

"Is the monastery only for cripples?"

She laughed and put out a bare foot from the divan. She looked at me and let herself be seen immodestly; exposed, her arms bare to the shoulder and her gown unfastened at the breast.

"You do that in vain," I thought. "You should keep your charms for your lover."

And the little fool asked me:

"Don't women bother you?"

"I don't see them," I answered. "How can they bother me?"