Chapter III
Paul and the Maiden“Adriana’s growing into a real beauty,” Mrs. Dunea’s friends remarked, when, by chance, the girl happened to enter the drawing room looking for a book, and wished them, “Good morning.”
“She’s just a child,” her mother protested, with coquettish modesty.
And Adriana, preoccupied with the search for her book, pretended not to hear this, leaving the room with an exaggerated air of distraction, not neglecting, however, to stop on the other side of the door and smile to herself vaguely, as if at a pleasant memory. She knew that once she had closed the door the guests would continue to compliment her mother on her daughter’s loveliness. Sometimes, she would return to eavesdrop on their flattery, with Mrs. Dunea’s false modesty adding to the air of complicity bet
