"
"Very likely it does."
Hermione spoke the last words without conviction. Perhaps they both
felt that they were not talking very frankly--were not expressing their
thoughts to each other with their accustomed sincerity. At any rate,
Artois suddenly introduced another topic of conversation, the reason of
his hurried visit to Paris, and for the next hour they discussed
literary affairs with a gradually increasing vivacity and open-
heartedness. The little difficulty between them--of which both had been
sensitive and fully conscious--passed away, and when at length Hermione
got up to go to her bedroom and change her dress for the evening, there
was no cloud about them.
When Hermione had gone Artois took up a book, but he sat till the
evening was falling and Giulia came smiling to light the lamp, without
reading a word of it. Her entry roused him from his reverie, and he
took out his watch. It was already past eight. The Marchesino would
soon be coming. And then--the dinner at Frisio's!
He got up and moved about the room, picking up a book here and there,
glancing at some pages, then putting it down.
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