You know how lazy I am.

I can never talk." "A woman need not talk in order to be persuaded.

It is enough that the man should.

Let me try." "I will shut my ears." "I will kneel at your feet." "I shall go to sleep." "I could wake you." "How ?" "By telling you that I mean to speak to Donna Beatrice myself." "Such an idea would wake the dead!" "So much the better.

They would hear me." "They would not help you, if they heard you," observed the Marchesa.
"They could at least bear witness to the answer I should receive." "And suppose, dear friend, that the answer should not be what you wish, or expect--would you care to have witnesses, alive or dead ?" "Why should the answer be a negative ?" "Because," replied the Marchesa, turning her face directly to his, "because Beatrice is herself uncertain.