"I must begin soon," said Carlotta, with a laugh.
A sinuous motion of her serpentine young body enabled her to bend
her face down to mine.
"Shall I love Seer Marcous? But how shall I know when I am in
love?"
"When you appreciate the exceeding impropriety of discussing the
matter with your humble servant," I replied.
"When a girl is in love she does not speak about it?"
"No, my dear. She lets concealment like a worm i' the bud feed
on her damask cheek."
"Then she gets ugly?"
"That's it," I answered. "You keep on looking in the glass, and
when you perceive you are hideous then you'll know you are in
love."
"But when I am so ugly you will not want me," she objected. "So
it is no use falling in love with you."
"You have a more logical mind than I imagined," said I.
"What is a logical mind?" asked Carlotta.
"It is the antiseptic which destroys the bacilli of unreason
whereby true happiness is vivified."
"I do not understand," she said.
"I should be vastly surprised if you did," I laughed.
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