And now, a moment ago, she had talked with him with more interest and kindly condescension than she had ever shown before.

He refused, and rightly, to believe that this was because she had needed his help in the matter of the telegram.

She could have called Bastianello, who was in her own service, and Bastianello would have done just as well.

But she had chosen to employ the man who had so rudely forgotten himself before her less than twenty-four hours earlier.

Why?
Ruggiero, little capable, by natural gifts or by experience, of dealing with such questions, found himself face to face with a great problem of the human self, and he knew at once that he could never solve it, try as he might.