"Oh, that's nothing," he cried emphatically.
"Caracciolo, I believe you've found the means to see me no more. What do you want from me?"
"Nothing, dear lady, nothing," he answered, with genuine grief in his face and voice.
"Then you ought not to risk destroying one of your friendships. What would Cesare have said if he had heard you for the last half hour?"
"Oh, nothing. He couldn't have heard me, you know, because he's never here."
"Sometimes he is," she said, with sudden emotion.
"Never, never. Don't tell pious fibs."
"He's always here."
"In your heart. I know it. It's an agreeable home for him, the more so because he can find others of the same sort wherever he goes."
"What are you saying?"