To-day, for the thousandth time, he regretted the sacrifice he had made, and cursed his generosity.
The whole distance from the Toledo to the Campo di Marte was passed in silence. As they approached the Reclusorio, Luigi Caracciolo drove by them with his tandem. He bowed cordially to them. Anna dropped her eyes; Laura smiled upon him.
"What a handsome fellow!" exclaimed Dias, with the sincere admiration of one man of the world for another.
"Very handsome," said Laura, who was accustomed to speak her girlish mind with sufficient freedom.
"He pleases you, eh?" inquired Cesare, with a smile.
"He pleases me," she said, with her habitual freedom and her habitual indifference.
"It's a pity he was never able to take Anna's fancy," Cesare added, with enigmatical irony.
"I hate handsome youths," said Anna, proudly.
"You wouldn't be the impetuous woman that you are, my dear, if you didn't hate everything that other people like. We've got a creature of passion in the family, Laura," he said, with a frank expression of scorn.
"Yes," assented the cruel sister.