"Povera figlia!" murmured Aloysius, hardly above his breath,--but she
caught the whisper, and smiled.

"I am too analytical and pessimistic," she said--"Let us all go for a
ramble among the flowers and down to the sea! Nature is the best
talker, for the very reason that she has no speech!"

The party broke up in twos and threes and left the loggia for the
garden. Rivardi remained a moment behind, obeying a slight sign from
Aloysius.

"She is not happy!" said the priest--"With all her wealth, and all her
gifts of intelligence she is not happy, nor is she satisfied. Do you
not find it so?"

"No woman is happy or satisfied till love has kissed her on the mouth
and eyes!" answered Rivardi, with a touch of passion in his
voice,--"But who will convince her of that? She is satisfied with her
beautiful surroundings,--all the work I have designed for her has
pleased her,--she has found no fault--"

"And she has paid you loyally!" interpolated Aloysius--"Do not forget
that! She has made your fortune. And no doubt she expects you to stop
at that and go no further in an attempt to possess herself as well as
her millions!"

The Marchese flushed hotly under the quiet gaze of the priest's steady
dark eyes.

"It is a great temptation," went on Aloysius, gently--"But you must
resist it, my son! I know what it would mean to you--the restoration of
your grand old home--that home which received a Roman Emperor in the
long ago days of history and which presents now to your eyes so
desolate a picture with its crumbling walls and decaying gardens
beautiful in their wild desolation!--yes, I know all this!--I know how
you would like to rehabilitate the ancient family and make the
venerable genealogical tree sprout forth into fresh leaves and branches
by marriage with this strange little creature whose vast wealth sets
her apart in such loneliness,--but I doubt the wisdom or the honour of
such a course--I also doubt whether she would make a fitting wife for
you or for any man!"

The Marchese raised his eyebrows expressively with the slightest shrug
of his shoulders.

"You may doubt that of every modern woman!" he said--"Few are really
'fitting' for marriage nowadays. They want something
different--something new!--God alone knows what they want!"

Don Aloysius sighed.

"Aye! God alone knows! And God alone will decide what to give them!"

"It must be something more 'sensational' than husband and children!"
said Rivardi a trifl