, and she was rather unusually silent and
preoccupied during the rest of that day. She was reflecting that if
Aurora had not chanced to meet Marcello just when Regina was with him
the girl might never have thought of him again, except with a
half-amused recollection of the little romantic tenderness she had once
felt for the friend and playfellow of her childhood. Maddalena was a
wise woman now, and did not underestimate the influence of little things
when great ones were not far off. That is a very important part of
worldly wisdom, which is the science of estimating chances in a game of
which love, hate, marriage, fortune, and social life and death may be
the stakes.

Her impulse was to prevent Aurora from seeing Marcello for a long time,
for the thought of a possible marriage had never attracted her, and
since the appearance of Regina on the scene every instinct of her nature
was against it. Her pride revolted at the idea that her daughter might
be the rival of a peasant girl, quite as much as at the possibility of
its being said that she had captured her old friend's son for the sake
of his money. But she remembered her own younger years and she judged
Aurora by herself. There had been more in that little romantic
tenderness for Marcello than any one had guessed, much of it had
remained, it had perhaps grown instead of dying out, and the sight of
Regina had awakened it to something much stronger than a girlish fancy.

Maddalena remembered little incidents now, of which the importance had
escaped her the more easily because the loss of her dearest friend had
made her dull and listless at the time. Aurora had scarcely asked about
Marcello during the weeks that followed his disappearance, but she had
often looked pale and almost ill just then. She had been better after
the news had come that he had been found, though she had barely said
that she was glad to hear of him. Then she had grown more restless than
she used to be, and there had sometimes been a dash of hardness in the
things she said; and her mother was now quite sure that Aurora had
intentionally avoided all mention of Marcello. To-day, she had suddenly
made that rather startling remark about marrying him. All this proved
clearly enough that he had been continually in her thoughts. When very
young people take unusual pains to ignore a certain subject, and then
unexpectedly blurt out some very rough observation about it, the chances
are that they have been thi