"Very happy. As happy as one can be."
By-and-by she asked: "Have you always been happy?"
Cesare Dias did not answer.
"Tell me, tell me, have you always been happy?"
"What does the past matter? Nothing."
"And—have you ever loved?"
"The person who says too much is lost; the person who wants to know too much suffers. Don't ask."
She chose a rose and offered it to him. He took it and put it into his button-hole.
At that instant Laura Acquaviva entered the room.