"I wonder whether you will ever like me better than you do now," he
said, by way of answer.
She was wondering, too, but it was not likely that she would admit it.
"I am very fickle," she replied, with a perfectly self-possessed
little laugh.
"So am I," Malipieri answered, following her lead. "My most desperate
love affairs have never lasted more than a month or two."
"You have had a great many, I daresay," Sabina observed, with no show
of interest. She was amazed and delighted to find how easy it was to
act her new part.
"And you," he asked, laughing, "how often have you been in love
already?"
"Let me see!"
She turned her eyes to his, without turning her head, and letting the
book lie in her lap she pretended to count on her fingers. He watched
her gravely, and nodded as she touched each finger, as if he were
counting with her. Suddenly she dropped both hands and laughed gaily.
"How childish you are!" she exclaimed.
"How deliciously frank you are!" he retorted, laughing with her.
It was mere banter, and not witty at that, but they were growing
intimate in it, much faster than either of them realized, for it was
the first time they had been able to talk together quite without
constraint, and it was the very first time Sabina had ever had a
chance of talking as she pleased to a man whom she really thought
young.
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