"I should be at liberty now to believe you were insincere." "What does it matter now whether I was insincere or not?
I can't conceive of anything mattering less.

I was very fine--is n't it true ?" "You know what I think of you," said Rowland.

And for fear of being forced to betray his suspicion of the cause of her change, he took refuge in a commonplace.

"Your mother, I hope, is well." "My mother is in the enjoyment of superb health, and may be seen every evening at the Casino, at the Baths of Lucca, confiding to every new-comer that she has married her daughter to a pearl of a prince." Rowland was anxious for news of Mrs.Light's companion, and the natural course was frankly to inquire about him.

"And the Cavaliere Giacosa is well ?" he asked.
Christina hesitated, but she betrayed no other embarrassment.