You could, I dare say, make yourself very agreeable to such a young lady who was willing to be pleased--why not to me?
I venture to say you have not ever troubled yourself about me since we last met.

No--hear me through--why, then, should you wish to talk over what didn't concern you at the time?
Promise me you will stop this reminiscent gossip, and I promise you I will not only not bore you with it, but take care that it is not intruded upon you by others.

Make yourself pleasant to me by talking about yourself and your prospects--anything but ME--and I will throw over those princes and barons that the colonel has raved about and devote myself to you while you are here.

Does that suit your Excellency ?" She had crossed her knees, and, with her hands clasped over them, and the toe of her small boot advanced beyond her skirt, leaned forward in the attitude he remembered to have seen her take in the summer-house at Rosario.
"Perfectly," he said.
"How long will you be here ?" "About three weeks: that, I believe, is the time allotted for my cure." "Are you really ill," she said quietly, "or imagine yourself so ?" "It amounts to about the same thing.

But my cure may not take so long," he added, fixing his bright eyes upon her.
She returned his gaze thoughtfully, and they remained looking at each other silently.
"Then you are stronger than you give yourself credit for.