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Rh He went on nevertheless, picking out all the spiteful things that can be said with politeness.

"Old bachelors often have manias..."

"That's what I often tell him. For instance, his taste for insects... But it amuses him so."

"She's invulnerable," said Leonor to himself.

"And then he knows life. He has lived so much."

"That's true. Sometimes, when he's speaking to me, I feel as though a whole world were opening before me."

"He knows all there is to be known, the arts and the sciences, friendship and love, men, women.... He's seen a lot of them and of every variety."

This time it was Rose who paused a moment to reﬂect, then:

"That's why I have such immense conﬁdence in him. It's a real happiness for me that he should come and spend his holidays here. I have learnt more in these few weeks than in all the other years of my life."

Leonor looked at Rose. He felt a powerful emotion, for to be loved like this seemed to him the height of felicity. He had never be-