Orsi presented Gheta Sanviano with the necklace at dinner. She took it
slowly from its box and glanced at the diamond clasp.
"Thank you, Cesare, immensely! What a shame that pink pearls so closely
resemble coral! No one gives you credit for them."
A feeling of shame for her sister's ungraciousness possessed Lavinia
and mounted to angry resentment. She had no particular desire to
champion Cesare, but the simplicity and kindness of his thought
demanded more than a superficial admission. At the same time she had
no intention of permitting Gheta any display of superiority here.
"You need only say they were from Cesare," she observed coldly; "with
him, it is always pearls."
Such a tide of pleasure swept over her husband's countenance that
Lavinia bit her lip in annoyance. She had intended only to rebuke Gheta
and had not calculated the effect of her speech upon Cesare. She was
scrupulously careful not to mislead the latter with regard to her
feeling for him. She went to a rather needless extreme to demonstrate
that she conducted herself from a sense of duty and propriety alone.
Her married life, she assured herself, already resembled the
Mantegazzas', whose indifferent courtesy she had marked and wondered
at. Perhaps in time, like them, she would grow accustomed to it; but
now it took all her determination to maintain the smallest daily
amenities. It was not that her actual condition was unbearable, but
only that it was so tragically removed from what she had imagined; she
had dreamed of romance, it had been embodied for her eager gaze--and
she had married Cesare Orsi!
Gheta returned the necklace to its box and the dinner progressed in
silence.
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