Page:Romance & Reality 3.pdf/221

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had been a very pretty women, which she remembered more to her own edification than to that of her friends. Whether from design or destiny, she had not married till youth was something on the decline, and then to a man some years her junior. Signor Pachetti was not at that time the rich man he afterwards became: of this his wife did not fail often to remind him. She forgot she had married from desperation rather than disinterestedness. There are two motives to every action, and two versions of every story. He had then had no dealings with conspirators. The opinions which attracted the attention of some of the Carbonari's agents towards him were confined to striking the barber with horror, and the macaroni-seller with dismay.