and laughed with Orazio,
teaching him English words and making fun of his pronunciation of
them. Gemma watched her sombrely and judged her by her own standards,
and Carmela caught at her cousin's arm presently as they passed down
the crowded Via Cavour together.

"Why did you make her so angry? She will always hate you now. I did
not know you were _civetta_."

Olive looked startled. "Angry? What do you mean?"

"Why did you speak so much to Orazio? Gemma thought you wanted to take
her husband from her and she will not forgive."

"Why, I could see it made her ill to look at him and that she shrank
from his touch, and I did as I would be done by. I distracted his
attention."

Carmela laughed in spite of herself. "Oh, Olive, and I thought you
were so clever. Do you not understand that one can be jealous of a man
one does not love? I know that though I am stupid. All Italians are
jealous. You must remember that."

"I am sorry," Olive said ruefully after a pause. "I see you are right.
She will never believe that I wanted to help her. If only you could
persuade her to give up Orazio. Surely the other man would come
forward then. You and Maria talk of getting her safely married and
away, but I see farther. There can be no safety in union with the
wrong man--"

Carmela shook her head. "She wants a husband," she said stolidly,
"and Orazio will make a good one. You do not understand us, my dear.
You can please yourself with dreams and fancies, but we are
different."

CHAPTER VIII

Olive was careful to sit down with Carmela on one side of their box on
the second tier, leaving two chairs in front for the _fidanzati_, but
the young man made several efforts to include her in the conversation
and she understood that she had put herself in a false position.
Orazio had misunderstood her because her manners were not the manners
of Lucca, and he knew no others. It annoyed her to see that he plumed
himself on his conquest, but her sense of humour enabled her to avoid
his glances with a good grace, especially as she realised that she had
brought them on herself.

She felt nothing but pity for her cousin now. It would be terrible to
marry a man like that, she thought, and she wondered that so many
women could rush in where angels feared to tread. She believed that
there were infinite possibilities of happiness in the holy state of
matrimony, but it seemed to her that perhaps the less said of some
actualities the better.