"
"Enough of that, Virginia," I said; but she would not oblige me.
"Let me tell your honour," said she, "that your sex has had the monopoly
of mine since this world was first put in order. If you want your
Aurelia, as I told you before, you must take her. Your proposals towards
her are very Christian, but I have noticed that it is not the Christians
who have the prettiest women at their disposition, but the Turks, of
whom there are more in the world than you think for. Your doctor, for
example, was a Turk of the Turks; and what did your Aurelia do but
grovel for his rod until you came along, and she said, 'Hey, here is one
who is Turchissimo, the grandest of grand Turks, with a longer and
sharper rod'? You had a great chance then, Don Francis--what under
Heaven possessed you to break the rod in her presence, or rather to put
it into her hands, saying, 'Behold, madam, the rod. It is yours, not
mine; use it. I kneel to receive it'? Why, Lord of Mercies, is this
madness? Let me remind you of what I told you at Prato not so long ago,
that to pray at a lady's feet when you ought to have her in your arms is
to prepare misery for the pair of you. The whole trouble about that
precious fault of yours was--not that you committed it, Dio mio, but
that you did not commit it again. There, sir, that is my opinion--make
what you will of it."
I was too profoundly dejected to be angry as I ought to have been; I
believe I made no reply.
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