Morgana had listened intently,--her eyes were brilliant.
"Yes--I think it would be dull after a couple of hundred years or so"--she said--"One would have tested all life's possibilities and pleasures by then."
"I am not so sure of that!" put in the Marchese Rivardi--"With youth nothing could become tiresome--youth knows no ennui."
Some of the other listeners to the conversation laughed.
"I cannot quite agree to that"--said a lady who had not yet spoken--"Nowadays the very children are 'bored' and ever looking for something new--it is just as if the world were 'played out'--and another form of planet expected."
"That is where we retain the vitality of our faith--" said Don Aloysius--"We expect--we hope! We believe in an immortal progress towards an ever Higher Good."
"But I think even a soul may grow tired!" said Morgana, suddenly--"so tired that even the Highest Good may seem hardly worth possessing!"
There was a moment's silence.
"Povera figlia!" murmured Aloysius, hardly above his breath,--but she caught the whisper, and smiled.
"I am too analytical and pessimistic," she said--"Let us all go for a ramble among the flowers and down to the sea! Nature is the best talker, for the very reason that she has no speech!"
The party broke up in twos and threes and left the loggia for the garden. Rivardi remained a moment behind, obeying a slight sign from Aloysius.
"She is not happy!" said the priest--"With all her wealth, and all her gifts of intelligence she is not happy, nor is she satisfied. Do you not find it so?"
"No woman is happy or satisfied till love has kissed her on the mouth and eyes!" answered Rivardi, with a touch of passion in his voice,--"But who will convince her of that? She is satisfied with her beautiful surroundings,--all the work I have designed for her has pleased her,--she has found no fault--"
"And she has paid you loyally!" interpolated Aloysius--"Do not forget that! She has made your fortune. And no doubt she expects you to stop at that and go no further in an attempt to possess herself as well as her millions!"
The Marchese flushed hotly under the quiet gaze of the priest's steady dark eyes.
"It is a great temptation," went on Aloysius, gently--"But you must resist it, my son! I know what it would mean to you--the restoration of your grand old home--that home which received a Roman Emperor in the long ago days of history and which presents now to your eyes so desolate a picture with its crumbling walls and decaying gardens beautiful in their wild desolation!--yes, I know all this!--I know how you would like to rehabilitate the ancient family and make the venerable genealogical tree sprout forth into fresh leaves and branches by marriage with this strange little creature whose vast wealth sets her apart in such loneliness,--but I doubt the wisdom or the honour of such a course--I also doubt whether she would make a fitting wife for you or for any man!"