A crony of his had nudged him; and he had thought that it
was so much the better; the silly fellow would keep everybody else off.
He was rather pleased than otherwise and watched them out of the corner
of his eye with a malicious enjoyment of the situation--a sort of
Satanic glee. For he had little doubt of his personal fascination, and
still less of his power to get hold of the girl, who seemed too ignorant
to know how to help herself, and who was worse than friendless, since
she had for some reason incurred the animosity of Mrs. Zangiacomo, a
woman with no conscience. The aversion she showed him as far as she
dared (for it is not always safe for the helpless to display the
delicacy of their sentiments), Schomberg pardoned on the score of
feminine conventional silliness. He had told Alma, as an argument, that
she was a clever enough girl to see that she could do no better than to
put her trust in a man of substance, in the prime of life, who knew
his way about. But for the excited trembling of his voice, and the
extraordinary way in which his eyes seemed to be starting out of his
crimson, hirsute countenance, such speeches had every character of calm,
unselfish advice--which, after the manner of lovers, passed easily into
sanguine plans for the future.
"We'll soon get rid of the old woman," he whispered to her hurriedly,
with panting ferocity.
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