"
"I agree with you."
"Well, then, there will be some story about her. Do you see what I
mean?"
"Perfectly. But that will not affect us in the least. Every one knows
what strange people the Conti are, and everybody knows that we are
perfectly respectable. If there is a word said about the girl's
character, you will put her into the carriage, my dear, and deposit
her at the convent under the charge of her sister. Everybody will say
that you have done right, and the matter will be settled."
"You would not really send her to the convent!"
"I will certainly not let her live under my roof, if she stays out all
night without giving a satisfactory account of herself."
"But her mother--"
"Her mother is no better than she should be," observed the Baron
virtuously, by way of answer.
The Baroness was very much disturbed. She had been delighted to be
looked upon as a sort of providence to the distressed great, and had
looked forward to the social importance of being regarded as a second
mother to Donna Sabina Conti. She had hoped to make a good match for
her, and to shine at the wedding; she had dreamed of marrying the girl
to Malipieri, who was such a fine fellow, and would be so rich some
day that he might be trapped into taking a wife without a dowry.
These castles in the air were all knocked to pieces by the Baron's
evident determination to get rid of Sabina.
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