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Hope, Anthony, 1863-1933

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" Again the forefinger was
raised in admonition, and Miss Quisante gave a piece of practical advice.
"Marry a nice man of your own sort, my dear, and when you're safely
married, be as much interested in Sandro as you like."
May was not quite sure of the morality of this counsel; it seemed
possible that Aunt Maria shared the vagueness about right and wrong which
she quarrelled with in her nephew. She laughed as she said,
"But then Mr. Quisante would marry some other woman, and she mightn't
like it. And my nice husband mightn't like it."
It was possible to discuss the matter far more frankly with Miss Quisante
than with anybody else, yet the talk with her was only the first of
several in which May tried to glean what would be thought of such a step
as marrying Alexander Quisante. Almost everywhere she found, not only the
lack of encouragement which Aunt Maria had shown, but an amazement hardly
distinguishable from horror and an utter failure to understand her point
of view; her care to conceal any personal interest in the discussions she
found means to bring about gained her very candid expressions of opinion
about Quisante, and she became aware that her world would regard her as
something like a lunatic if it awoke one morning to read of her
engagement to the man.


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