For a moment her face became serious. "I wonder if they are right. I wonder if older persons know."
Then she clasped her hands with a burst of laughter. "Why, if I were English, I would be expected to huddle up against my Uncle's coat and say, 'Far be it from me to doubt the wisdom of your opinion, dear Uncle.' And I would be handed over, boots and baggage, to the fine young man in the silver frame on my Uncle's table." Again for a moment the laughter vanished and the grave air returned. "I wish I knew what the poor little mite of a girl thought about it. I wish I knew if in the end she was glad to have her life made so safe. I wish you could have heard all the excellent reasons the Duke of Dorset repeated. He made me afraid."
"I would rather have seen the Duke," said the Marchesa.
"You mean how he looked when he was talking?"
"Exactly that," replied the Marchesa.
"Well, he looked like a man who is thinking one thing and saying something else. He looked like this." And again she contracted her eyelids, and lifted her chin.
"Ah!" said the Marchesa.
The girl jerked her head, scattering the pins which the maid was putting into her hair.
"Why did you say 'Ah' like that?"
"Because," replied the Marchesa, "it helps to confirm a theory I have got."