basket.

And Marcello came back, before he had taken four steps.

"Is that what you meant when you said that you might never come here
again?" he asked, and there was something rough in his tone that pleased
her.

"No," she answered, as if nothing had happened. "Mamma talked to me a
long time last night."

"What did she say?"

"Do you want to know?"

"Yes."

"There is no reason why I should not tell you. She says that we must not
come here after I go into society, because people will think that she is
trying to marry me to you."

She looked at him boldly for a moment, and then turned her eyes to the
sea.

"Why should she care what people think?" he asked.

"Because it would prevent me from marrying any one else," answered
Aurora, with the awful cynicism of youth. "If every one thought I was
engaged to you, or going to be, no other man could ask for me. It's
simple enough, I'm sure!"