But, Lavinia realized with a sigh, she couldn't expect to be pursued
like Gheta, who was very beautiful. Gheta was so exceptional that she
had been introduced to the Florentine polite world without the
customary preliminary of marriage. She could, almost every one agreed,
marry very nearly whomever and whenever she willed. Even now, after the
number of years she had been going about with practically all her
friends wedded, no one seriously criticized the Sanvianos for not
insisting on a match with one of the several eligibles who had
unquestionably presented themselves.
Gheta was slender and round; her complexion had the flawless pallid
bloom of a gardenia; her eyes and hair were dark, and her lips an
enticing scarlet thread. Perhaps her chin was a trifle lacking in
definition, her voice a little devoid of warmth; but those were minor
defects in a person so precisely radiant. Her dress was always
noticeably lovely; at present she wore pink tulle over lustrous gray,
with a high silver girdle, a narrow black velvet band and diamond clasp
about her delicate full throat.
Anna Mantegazza was more elaborately gowned, in white embroidery, with
a little French hat; but Anna Mantegazza was an American with millions,
and elaboration was a commonplace with her. Lavinia wore only a simple
white slip, confined about her flexible waist with a yellow ribbon; and
she was painfully conscious of the contrast she presented to the two
women seated in the front of the window.
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