He was quite sure that she did not suspect him of having been in any way concerned in Marcello's temporary disappearance.
"Suppose him to be as strong as the strongest," Maddalena answered.

"Put aside the question of his health.

There is something else that seems to me quite as important." "The moral side ?" Corbario smiled gravely.

"My dear lady, you and I know the world, don't we?
We do not expect young men to be saints!" Maddalena, who had not always been a saint, returned his look coldly.
"Let us leave the saints out of the discussion," she said, "unless we speak of Marcello's mother.

She was one, if any one ever was.