Page:The Princess Casamassima (London and New York, Macmillan & Co., 1886), Volume 2.djvu/114

 were too big for her. Hyacinth meanwhile descended the ladder. 'Ecco! She's a capricciosa,' said the old lady.

'I don't understand how you speak of her,' Hyacinth remarked, gravely. 'You seem to be her friend, yet you say things that are not favourable to her.'

'Dear young man, I say much worse to her about herself than I should ever say to you. I am rude, oh yes—even to you, to whom, no doubt, I ought to be particularly kind. But I am not false. It is not our German nature. You will hear me some day. I am the friend of the Princess; it would be well enough if she never had a worse one! But I should like to be yours, too—what will you have? Perhaps it is of no use. At any rate, here you are.'

'Yes, here I am, decidedly!' Hyacinth laughed, uneasily,

'And how long shall you stay? Excuse me if I ask that; it is part of my rudeness.'

'I shall stay till to-morrow morning. I must be at my work by noon.'

'That will do very well. Don't you remember, the other time, how I told you to remain faithful?'

'That was very good advice. But I think you exaggerate my danger.'

'So much the better,' said Madame Grandoni; 'though now that I look at you well I doubt it a little. I see you you are one of those types that ladies like. I can be sure of that, because I like you myself. At my age—a hundred and twenty—can I not say that? If the Princess were to do so, it would be different; remember that—that any flattery she may ever offer you will be on her lips much less discreet. But perhaps she will never have the chance; you may never come again. There are people who have come