"I said that I had come to know you by chance, and that--strange
as it might sound--we were simply friends." He glanced for an
instant at Ida; her eyes were turned to the ground. "You will
believe me," he went on quickly, "when I tell you that I really said
nothing more?"
"I never doubt a word of yours," was Ida's quiet reply.
"Casti was overjoyed at the thought of finding such a friend for his
wife. Of course I told him that he must not certainly count either
on your consent or on his wife's. Hers I thought to be perhaps more
doubtful than yours."
"Could I really be of any use to her," asked Ida, after a silence,
"with so little free time as I have?"
"Supposing she would welcome you, I really believe you could be of
great use. She is a strange creature, miserably weak in body and
mind. If you could get to regard this as a sort of good work you
were called upon to undertake, you would very likely be little less
than an angel of mercy to both of them. Casti is falling into
grievous unhappiness--why, you will understand sufficiently if you
come to know them."
"Do you think she bears malice against me?"
"Of that I know nothing. Casti said she had never spoken of you in
that way.
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