“Twenty-four.”
“That’s just right.”
“Yes, but how about the groceries?”
“She would overlook that. Believe me, that child has a soul. My husband’s older daughter is good, I won’t deny it, but she is a cold thing. Just as she married Juan de Dios, she would have married any one, and she will be faithful to him, as she would to any one else, because she hasn’t the courage to do otherwise; but not so with the little one, she’s full of it.”
Quentin recalled the two sisters and thought that perhaps the Countess was right. With the memory, he fell silent for a long time.
“Well,” said the Countess, “if you continue this silence, it will seem as if I were the one who is abducting you, and that doesn’t suit me. Why, just think if one of those verse-scribbling penny-a-liners should find out about this! They would paint me green.”
“I’ll not say another thing against you, my lady, because....”
“Because why, my friend? What were you going to say?”
“Nothing; I’ll say that you are one of the most....”
“One of the most what?”