"Tell you the honest truth, Donna Roma," he said, "Mr. Rossi is one of those who think that when a man has taken up a work for the world it is best if he has no ties of family."
"Really? Is that so?" she answered. "But I don't understand. He can't help having father and mother, can he?"
"He can help having a wife, though," said Bruno, "and Mr. Rossi thinks a public man should be like a priest, giving up home and love and so forth, that others may have them more abundantly."
"For that reason he doesn't throw himself in the way of temptation."
"And you think that's why...."
"I think that's why he keeps out of the way of women."
"Perhaps he doesn't care for them—some men don't, you know."
"Care for them! Mr. Rossi is one of the men who think pearls and diamonds of women, and if he had to be cast on a desert island with anybody, he would rather have one woman than a hundred thousand men."
"Ah, yes, but perhaps there's no 'one woman' in the world for him yet, Bruno."