deceiver or not, since he danced with his legs and not with his
conscience; that there was no happiness equal to a good cotillon,
and that there were a number of these in every season; and,
finally, that provided one did not spoil one's complexion one
might do anything, so long as mamma was not looking.

To Donna Faustina, these views, held by the nuns on the one hand
and by Flavia on the other, seemed very conflicting. She would
not, indeed, have hesitated in choosing, even if she had been
permitted any choice; for it was clear that, since she had seen
the convent side of the question, it would be very interesting to
see the other. But, having been told so much about sinners, she
was on the look-out for them, and looked forward to making the
acquaintance of one of them with a pardonable excitement.
Doubtless she would hate a sinner if she saw one, as the nuns had
taught her, although the sinner of her imagination was not a very
repulsive personage. Flavia probably knew a great many, and Flavia
said that society was very amusing. Faustina wished that the
autumn months would pass a little more quickly, so that the
carnival season might begin.

Prince Montevarchi, for his part, intended his youngest daughter
to be a model of prim propriety. He attributed to Flavia's
frivolity of behaviour the difficulty he experienced in finding
her a husband, and he had no intention of exposing himself to a
second failure in the case of Faustina. She should marry in her
first season, and if she chose to be gay after that, the
responsibility thereof might fall upon her husband, or her father-
in-law, or upon whomsoever it should most concern; he himself
would have fulfilled his duty so soon as the nuptial benediction