She glanced at Rivardi as she spoke--he was rolling a cigarette in his slim brown fingers and his face was impassively intent on his occupation.
"Well, that's so!"--and her American friend looked at her kindly--"Even a fairy palace and a fairy garden might prove lonesome for one!"
"And boresome for two!" laughed Morgana--"My dear Colonel Boyd! It is not every one who is fitted for matrimony--and there exist so many that ARE,--eminently fitted--we can surely allow a few exceptions! I am one of those exceptions. A husband would be excessively tiresome to me, and very much in my way!"
Colonel Boyd laughed heartily.
"You won't always think so!" he said--"Such a charming little woman must have a heart somewhere!"
"Oh, yes, dear!" chimed in his fragile invalid wife, "I am sure you have a heart!"
Morgana raised herself on her cushions to a sitting posture and looked round her with a curious little air or defiance.
"A heart I MUST have!" she said--"otherwise I could not live. It is a necessary muscle. But what YOU call 'heart'--and what the dear elusive poets write about, is simply brain,--that is to say, an impulsive movement of the brain, suggesting the desirability of a particular person's companionship--and we elect to call that 'love'! On that mere impulse people marry."
"It's a good impulse"--said Colonel Boyd, still smiling broadly--"It founds families and continues the race!"
"Ah, yes! But I often wonder why the race should be continued at all!" said Morgana--"The time is ripe for a new creation!"
A slow footfall sounded on the garden path, and the tall figure of a man clad in the everyday ecclesiastical garb of the Roman Church ascended the steps of the loggia.
"Don Aloysius!" quickly exclaimed the Marchese, and every one rose to greet the newcomer, Morgana receiving him with a profound reverence. He laid his hand on her head with a kindly touch of benediction.
"So the dreamer has come to her dream!" he said, in soft accents--"And it has not broken like an air-bubble!--it still floats and shines!" As he spoke he courteously saluted all present by a bend of his head,--and stood for a moment gazing at the view of the sea and the dying sunset. He was a very striking figure of a man--tall, and commanding in air and attitude, with a fine face which might be called almost beautiful. The features were such as one sees in classic marbles--the full clear eyes were set somewhat widely apart under shelving brows that denoted a brain with intelligence to use it, and the smile that lightened his expression as he looked from, the sea to his fair hostess was of a benignant sweetness.