“Your sister? Are you losing your mind, Lulu?”
“Pshaw! you could easily say that. At present Roberto and Sofia are indifferent to each other, but if they come to know each other better they might appreciate each other, and then—who can say? You would be praised as a good mother for having married off the elder daughter first.”
“In fact—”
“I shall not go husbandless; I am barely eighteen years old. And I wish to amuse myself; I wish to dance a great deal; I wish to enjoy my happy youth with my dear, kind little mother—”
“You are a little rogue,” replied the mother, moved, and embracing her daughter.
“Then we understand each other? Announce the ugly news to Roberto politely, but add that we must always be friends, that we hope to see him often. If these two are to fall in love with each other they will do so; it is predestined.”
“But do you believe, naughty Lulu, that matters will all come right? You know that I hate quarrels.”
“Oh, unconvinced mother! Oh, mother, more unbelieving than Saint Thomas! Yes, yes, out of my wide experience I assure you that there will be no scandal. Roberto is a gentleman, and will not expect me to marry him without loving him.”
“What seems to me impossible is the affair with Sofia—”
“Nothing is more possible than the impossible,” gravely replied Lulu.