Taquisara had very fairly described the latter's position to her that morning as that of an insignificant poor gentleman, in no point of name or fortune the superior of five hundred others, and who might naturally be supposed to covet the dignities and the wealth which Veronica could confer upon him.

But Veronica had resented both the description and the suggestions which had accompanied it, which showed well enough, how strong her inclination really was.
On the other side, there remained the impression made upon her by what Taquisara had said for Gianluca, and last of all the impression made upon her by Taquisara himself, as a man, and as a standard by which to measure other men in the future.
With regard to Gianluca, Veronica was indeed curious, but she was also somewhat sceptical.

She could not, of course, say surely that a young man might not die of love for a girl whom he scarcely knew; and among the acquaintances of her family she remembered at least one case in converse, where a morbid maiden of eighteen years had died because she was not allowed to marry the man she loved.

Even there, it had been hinted that the girl had caught a bad cold which had fastened upon her delicate lungs.

It was doubtless a romantic story, and if anything appealed to her for Gianluca, it was the romance in his case.