"Is she santa?"
"I don't mean that. But she is good to every one."
"But is she pretty, too?" she persisted. "And young?"
"She is not at all old. Some day you shall see—"
He checked himself. He had been going to say, "Some day you shall see her."
"And she is very clever," he said, after a moment.
"Clever?" said Maddalena, evidently not understanding what he meant.
"She can understand many things and she has read many books."
"But what is the good of that? Why should a girl read many books?"
"She is not a girl."