"
"You may look at things that way, dear Madonna,
but society won't. I think most people
will very much resent being introduced to a woman
whom they know to be his mistress."
"How can they know it unless he tells them
so?"
"It's plain enough; you'll see if you meet her.
But I should think even he would not have the
audacity to bring her to the Grassinis'."
"They wouldn't receive her. Signora Grassini
is not the woman to do unconventional things of
that kind. But I wanted to hear about Signor
Rivarez as a satirist, not as a man. Fabrizi told
me he had been written to and had consented to
come and take up the campaign against the
Jesuits; and that is the last I have heard. There
has been such a rush of work this week."
"I don't know that I can tell you much more.
There doesn't seem to have been any difficulty
over the money question, as we feared there would
be. He's well off, it appears, and willing to work
for nothing."
"Has he a private fortune, then?"
"Apparently he has; though it seems rather
odd--you heard that night at Fabrizi's about
the state the Duprez expedition found him
in.
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