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Orsino had shown less anxiety to see Madame d'Aranjuez than might perhaps have been expected. In the ten days which had elapsed between the sitting at Gouache's studio and the first of January he had only once made an attempt to find her at home, and that attempt had failed.
She argued, primitively enough, that to annoy Orsino must be equivalent to annoying his people, and she supposed that she could do nothing more disagreeable to the young man's wishes than to induce Madame d'Aranjuez to join that part of society from which all the Saracinesca were separated by an insuperable barrier.
Consuelo, my dear, do you like oysters, or do you not? That is the question. You do, I know a little lemon and a very little red pepper I love red, even to adoring cayenne!" Orsino glanced at Madame d'Aranjuez, for he was surprised to hear Donna Tullia call her by her first name. He had not known that the two women had reached the first halting place of intimacy.
"Madame d'Aranjuez seemed perfectly sane when I last saw her," answered Spicca indifferently. "Then what possible interest had the maid in inventing the lie?" "Ah what interest? That is quite another matter, as you say. It may not have been her own interest." "You think that Madame d'Aranjuez had instructed her?" "Not necessarily.
To Spicca, Orsino seemed indifferent, and the older man's reticence after his sudden outburst did not tend to prolong the meeting. Orsino went in search of Contini and explained what was needed of him. He was to make a brief list of desirable apartments to let and was to accompany Madame d'Aranjuez on the following morning in order to see them.
"I have heard it said that one should fear the man of one book," observed Maria Consuelo, looking at him. "For my part, I am more inclined to fear the woman of many." "Do you read much, my dear Consuelo?" asked Donna Tullia, laughing. "Perpetually." "And is Don Orsino afraid of you?" "Mortally," answered Orsino. "Madame d'Aranjuez knows everything." "Is she blue, then?" asked Donna Tullia.
He soon heard the tales about her which were carelessly circulated at the club, and he listened to them without much interest, though he took the trouble to deny their truth on his own responsibility, which surprised the men who knew him and gave rise to the story that he was in love with Madame d'Aranjuez.
"Madame d'Aranjuez and I have been talking all the morning, quite like old friends and now we need an introduction!" Maria Consuelo glanced at Orsino as though, expecting him to make some remark. But he said nothing. "What should we do without conventions!" she said, for the sake of saying something.
"A few years." "Is that all? It is too much, though. And who is Madame d'Aranjuez? Everybody was asking the question last winter. I suppose she had a name before she married, and since you have been trying to make her your wife, you must know all about her. Who was she?" Orsino hesitated. "You see!" cried, the old Prince. "It is not all right.
Donna Tullia, on the other hand, had committed herself to the acquaintance on her own responsibility, evidently taking it for granted that if Orsino knew Madame d'Aranjuez, the latter must be socially irreproachable. It amused Orsino to imagine the fat countess's rage if she turned out to have made a mistake.
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