She bent her head
over her beads as she heard his step, and pretended not to see him. When
he came near her he stood still a moment, but she would not look up, and
between annoyance and disappointment and confusion she felt that she was
blushing, which she would not have had Zorzi see for anything. She
wondered why he did not go on.
"Have I offended you?" he asked, in a low voice.
Oddly enough, her embarrassment disappeared as soon as he spoke, and the
blush faded away.
"No," she answered, coldly enough. "I am not angry--I am only sorry."
"But I am glad that I would not answer your question," returned Zorzi.
"I doubt whether you had any answer to give," retorted Marietta with a
touch of scorn.
Zorzi's brows contracted sharply and he made a movement to go on. So her
proffered friendship was worth no more than that, he thought. She was
angry and scornful because her curiosity was disappointed. She could not
have guessed his secret, he was sure, though that might account for her
temper, for she would of course be angry if she knew that he loved her.
And she was angry now because he had refused to tell her so. That was a
woman's logic, he thought, quite regardless of the defect in his own. It
was just like a woman! He sincerely wished that he might tell her so.
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