Chapter 30

She would hardly have ventured if the sufferings of the day had not hardened her. After much pain, respectability becomes ludicrous. And she had only to overcome the difficulty of Feo's being a man, not the difficulty of his being a concierge. She had never observed that spiritual reticence towards social inferiors which is usual at the present day. "This is my second visit," she said boldly. "I stayed at the _Biscione_ twenty years ago." He showed the first sign of emotion: _that_ reference to the _Biscione_ annoy…