I wonder where the
brute has gone!"
"It would be well if he had made exit out of the world altogether,"
said Sylvie--"But he is too vain of himself for that! However, his
absence creates suspicion--and even if Angela does not speak, people
will guess for themselves what she does not say. He will never dare
to show himself in Rome!"
Their conversation was abruptly terminated here by the entrance of
Madame Bozier with a quantity of fresh flowers which she had been
out to purchase, for Sylvie to take as usual on her morning visit to
her suffering friend; and Aubrey took his leave, promising to return
later in the afternoon, after Monsignor Gherardi had been and gone.
But he had his own ideas on the subject of Gherardi's visit to his
fair betrothed,--ideas which he kept to himself, for if his surmises
were correct, now was the time to put Sylvie's character to the
test. He did not doubt her stability in the very least, but he could
never quite get away from her mignonne child-like appearance of
woman, to the contemplation of the spirit behind the pretty
exterior. Her beauty was so riante, so dazzling, so dainty, that it
seemed to fire the very air as a sunbeam fires it,--and there was no
room for any more serious consideration than that of purely feminine
charm.
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