Paolina curtseyed her thanks and when someone else claimed his aunt’s attention the Conte drew her to one side and said,
“You have made a conquest of my aunt. I have never known her so taken with anyone. Usually she dislikes young women and makes the most disparaging remarks about them.”
“I am flattered,” Paolina managed to smile.
“I think perhaps you captivate everyone,” he went on in a low voice. “There is something about you which makes them absolutely certain that you are gold through and through. There could not be an unkind or false thought in your mind.”
Paolina turned her head away from him.
“You must not say things like that for we are, most of us, not exactly what we seem.”
“I know what you are,” he said positively.
He would have said more had not his voice been drowned at
