No one could really be what she wished to make Marcello.

He felt that himself, though I honestly did all I could to make him act according to his mother's wishes.

But now that she is gone--" he broke off, and was silent a moment.

"You may be right," he repeated, shaking his head thoughtfully.

"You are a very good woman, and you ought to know." She leaned back in her chair, and looked at him in silence, wondering whether she was not perhaps doing him a great injustice; yet his voice rang false to her ear, and the old conviction that he had never loved his wife came back with increased force and with the certainty that he had been playing a part for years without once breaking down.
"I will join Marcello, and see what I can do," he said.
"Do you know where he is ?" "Oh, yes! He keeps me informed of his movements; he is very good about writing.