"What a little bundle of wisdom you are!" she exclaimed.

"Yes. My friend Prospero also says that I am wise," answered Annunziata.
"I like to see you laugh," she mentioned, looking critically at the face
above her. "You have beautiful teeth, they are so white and shining, and
so small, and your lips are so red."

"Oh," said the lady, laughing more merrily than ever. "Then you must be
very entertaining, and I will laugh a great deal."

Still looking critically at the lady's face, "Are you not," demanded
Annunziata, "the person who has come to visit the Signora Brandi?"

"Signora Brandi?" The lady considered. "Yes, I suppose I must be. At any
rate, I am the person who has come to visit Frau Brandt."

"Frao Branta? We call her Signora Brandi here," said Annunziata. "Are
you related to her?"

"No," said the lady, who always seemed inclined to laugh, though
Annunziata had no consciousness of being very entertaining. "I am not
related to her. I am only her friend."

"She is an Austrian," said Annunziata. "This castle belongs to
Austrians. Once upon a time, very long ago, before I was born, all this
country belonged to Austrians. Are you, too, an Austrian?"

"Yes." The lady nodded. "I, too, am an Austrian."

"And yet," remarked Annunziata, "you speak Italian just as I do."