What surprised him most was that the first quarrel should
have been about Aurora. He had more than once said in conversation that
he meant to marry the girl, and Marcello had chosen to say nothing in
answer to the statement; but when Folco had gone so far as to hint that
Aurora was in love with him and was about to accept him, Marcello had as
good as given him the lie direct, and a few more words had led to the
outbreak recorded at the beginning of this chapter.
As a matter of fact Corbario understood what had led to it better than
Marcello himself, who had no very positive reason for entirely
disbelieving his stepfather's words. The Contessa and her daughter had
returned to Rome, and Corbario often went to see them, whereas Marcello
had not been even once. When Marcello had last seen Folco in the
Engadine, he had left him sitting in their little room at the hotel.
Folco was not at all too old to marry Aurora; he was rich, at least for
life, and Aurora was poor; he was good-looking, accomplished, and ready
with his tongue. It was by no means impossible that he might make an
impression on the girl and ultimately win her. Besides, Marcello felt
that odd little resentment against Aurora which very young men sometimes
feel against young girls, whom they have thought they loved, or are
really about to love, or are afraid of loving, which makes them rude, or
unjust, or both, towards those perhaps quite unconscious maidens, and
which no woman can ever understand.
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