nfluenced by her; I could see
it!"

I puffed slowly at my cigar and pretended to meditate.

"Was I?" I said at last, with an air of well-acted surprise. "Really
subdued and influenced? I do not think so. But I admit I have never
seen a woman so entirely beautiful."

He stopped in his walk, loosened his arm from mine, and regarded me
fixedly.

"I told you so," he said, deliberately. "You must remember that I told
you so. And now perhaps I ought to warn you."

"Warn me!" I exclaimed, in feigned alarm. "Of what? against whom?
Surely not the Contessa Romani, to whom you were so anxious to
introduce me? She has no illness, no infectious disorder? She is not
dangerous to life or limb, is she?"

Ferrari laughed at the anxiety I displayed for my own bodily safety--an
anxiety which I managed to render almost comic--but he looked somewhat
relieved too.

"Oh, no," he said, "I meant nothing of that kind. I only think it fair
to tell you that she has very seductive manners, and she may pay you
little attentions which would flatter any man who was not aware that
they are only a part of her childlike, pretty ways; in short, they
might lead him erroneously to suppose himself the object of her
particular preference, and--"

I broke into a violent fit of laughter, and clapped him roughly on the
shoulder.

"Your warning is quite unnecessary, my good young friend," I said.
"Come now, do I look a likely man to attract the attention of an adored
and capricious beauty? Besides, at my age the idea is monstrous! I
could figure as her father, as yours, if you like, but in the capacity
of a lover--impossible!"

He eyed me attentively

"She said you did not seem old," he murmured, half to himself and half
to me.

"Oh, I grant you she made me that little compliment, certainly," I
answered, amused at the suspicions that evidently tortured his mind;
"and I accepted it as it was meant--in kindness. I am well aware what a
battered and unsightly wreck of a man I must appear in her eyes when
contrasted with YOU, Sir Antinous!"

He flushed warmly. Then, with a half-apologetic air, he said:

"Well, you must forgive me if I have seemed overscrupulous. The
contessa is like a--a sister to me; in fact, my late friend Fabio
encouraged a fraternal affection between us, and now he is gone I feel
it more than ever my duty to protect her, as it were, from herself. She
is so young and light-hearted and thoughtless that--but you understand
me, do