e she possessed
a rather remarkable self control.

"I don't think we will discuss the question of my being jealous, Carlo,
you have scarcely the right to believe that I care for you enough for
any such absurdity. I don't like Miss Thompson very much and neither
does Sonya. Oh, there is no real reason for disliking her! But if you
are under the impression that she likes you specially, Carlo, I think
you are mistaken. She just likes to amuse herself too, and of course
there is no harm in it."

Bianca's speech sounded perfectly childlike and yet perhaps she had a
good deal of instinctive cleverness.

In any case Carlo felt annoyed.

"But suppose we don't talk personalities any more, Carlo," Bianca
apologized almost immediately. "Naturally we can't always like the same
people. I have never been able to get over my disappointment because the
Countess Charlotta was not allowed to come with us to Coblenz. Sonya and
I have nearly quarreled about her half a dozen times. And I suppose it
is not alone that I am sorry for the Countess Charlotta, but because I
do need a girl friend so dreadfully, Carlo. It seems strange doesn't it,
and I am almost ashamed to speak of it, but I have never had a really
intimate girl friend in my life. I suppose this may be partly due to the
queer circumstances of my life. You see with my father dead and my
mother an Italian peasant, who wished to make my life so different from
her own that I was not allowed to associate even with her very closely,
and then being brought up by a foster mother who did not encourage other
girls to make friends with me, because she might have to tell them of my
peculiar history, I suppose I did not have much of a chance for
friendships with the kind of girls I would like to have known! Then I
realize that I have not a very attractive disposition."

Bianca's little unconscious confession of loneliness had its
instantaneous effect upon her companion.

"Don't be a goose, Bianca mia," Carlo answered, using an Italian phrase
which he sometimes employed, recalling the bond of their first meeting
in Italy several years before. "But who is this Countess Charlotta whom
you desire to have with you here in Coblenz in order that you may
continue your friendship?"

Just an instant Bianca appeared troubled and then her expression
cleared.

"Perhaps I should not have spoken of the Countess Charlotta, not even to
you, Carlo, only of course I know I can trust you. She was a youn