Out of his opposition to the machine grew a dislike to its productions, which he denounced as vulgar; and not even their comparative cheapness and the fact that, when all was said, he was a man of limited means, would induce him to harbour a single volume that was so produced.
Along the shelves she sought, and finally drew down four heavy tomes.
Turning the pages of the first, she found there, with a readiness that argued a good acquaintance with the work, the story of Abraam the Jew, which I desired to read as it had been set down.

She bade me read it aloud, which I did, she seated in the window, listening to me.
At first I read with some constraint and shyness, but presently warming to my task and growing interested, I became animated and vivacious in my manner, so that when I ceased I saw her sitting there, her hands clasped about one knee, her eyes upon my face, her lips parted a little, the very picture of interest.
And with that it happened that we established a custom, and very often, almost daily, after dinner, we would repair together to the library, and I--who hitherto had no acquaintance with any save Latin works--began to make and soon to widen my knowledge of our Tuscan writers.

We varied our reading.

We dipped into our poets.

Dante we read, and Petrarca, and both we loved, though better than the works of either--and this for the sake of the swift movement and action that is in his narrative, though his melodies, I realized, were not so pure--the Orlando of Ariosto.
Sometimes we would be joined by Fifanti himself; but he never stayed very long.