“Oh, how handsome you are!”
“Oh, how lovely you are!”
⁂
They had been married for three years, and not the slightest cloud had obscured the heaven of their happiness. When, during the first months, she had drawn a deep sigh and said to him,
“Oh, my Carlo, how happy we are!”
He, as if seized with a mysterious fear, had answered her:
“No, Teresa, do not say so! It seems as if it must bring misfortune. When God sees a man happy he judges him as standing in contravention of human and divine laws, and whispers to him that terrible dictum which one sees promulgated everywhere in England against those who violate regulations: You will be prosecuted. Just imagine if instead of one happy person he should find two! The penalty must be doubled.”
She blushed and smiled. She did not believe at all in that form of superstition, but willingly obeyed, and for some time did not say:
“Carlo, how happy we are!”