"I—I think so!" she murmured—"I ought to be!"
The priest smiled and after a pause took the chair which the Marchese Rivardi offered him. The other guests in the loggia looked at him with interest, fascinated by his grave charm of manner. Morgana resumed her seat.
"I ought to be happy"—she said—"And of course I am—or I shall be!"
"'Man never is but always to be blest'!" quoted Colonel Boyd—"And woman the same! I have been telling this lady, reverend father, that maybe she will find her 'palazzo' a bit lonesome without some one to share its pleasures."
Don Aloysius looked round with a questioning glance.
"What does she herself think about it?" he asked, mildly.
"I have not thought at all"—said Morgana, quickly, "I can always fill it with friends. No end of people are glad to winter in Sicily."
"But will such 'friends' care for YOU or YOUR happiness?" suggested the Marchese, pointedly.
Morgana laughed.
"Oh, no, I do not expect that! Nowadays no one really cares for anybody else's happiness but their own. Besides, I shall be much too busy to want company. I'm bent on all sorts of discoveries, you know!—I want to dive 'deeper than ever plummet sounded'!"