Yet she is very fond of him.

How she hangs on his arm! Simplicity! Candor! We are all tarred with the same stick--we women." That night Bella was a changed girl--exalted and depressed by turns, and with no visible reason.
Her father was pleased.

Anything better than that deadly languor.
The next day Bella sat by her father's side in the square, longing to go to the Sister, yet patiently waiting to be ordered.
At last the admiral, finding her dull and listless, said, "Why don't you go and talk to the Sister?
She amuses you.

I'll join you when I have smoked this cigar." The obedient Bella rose, and went toward the Sister as if compelled.
But when she got to her her whole manner changed.

She took her warmly by the hand, and said, trembling and blushing, and all on fire, "I have brought you the anonymous letter." The elder actress took it and ran her eye over it--an eye that now sparkled like a diamond.