Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 1 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/238

 hand on his arm, which he felt tremble, "If you 'll go straight away with me I 'll keep you company anywhere."

"Go straight away?" cried Roderick almost angrily. "Don't you suppose I intend to dance with her?"

The Cavaliere had been watching him attentively; he gently took possession of the other arm. "Softly, softly, dear young man. Let me speak to you as a father."

"Oh, speak even as a mother and I really shall not mind it!"

"Be very reasonable then and go away."

"Why the devil should I go away?"

"Because you 're too charmingly in love," said the Cavaliere.

"I might as well be in love here as in the streets."

"Carry your love as far as possible from that young woman. She 'll never listen to you—she can't."

"She 'can't'?" demanded Roderick. "She 's not the sort of person—she 's the very last—of whom you may say that. She can if she will. She does as she chooses."

"Up to a certain point. Beyond it—niente." And the Cavaliere's two forefingers made a wonderful airy sign. "It would take too long to explain; I only beg you to believe that if you think you can pretend to Miss Light you prepare for yourself de mauvais draps. Have you a princely title? have you a princely fortune? No? Then you're not her affair."

And the Cavaliere folded his arms again, like a 204