"Oh, by no means! Nothing so strong as hatred," I said, coolly, as I peeled and divided a fine peach as a finish to my morning's meal. "Hatred is a strong passion--to hate well one must first have loved. No, no--I do not find women worth hating--I am simply indifferent to them. They seem to me merely one of the burdens imposed on man's existence--graceful, neatly packed, light burdens in appearance, but in truth, terribly heavy and soul-crushing."
"Yet many accept such burdens gayly!" interrupted Ferrari, with a smile. I glanced at him keenly.
"Men seldom attain the mastery over their own passions," I replied; "they are in haste to seize every apparent pleasure that comes in their way, Led by a hot animal impulse which they call love, they snatch at a woman's beauty as a greedy school-boy snatches ripe fruit--and when possessed, what is it worth? Here is its emblem"--and I held up the stone of the peach I had just eaten--"the fruit is devoured--what remains? A stone with a bitter kernel."
Ferrari shrugged his shoulders.
"I cannot agree with you, count," he said; "but I will not argue with you. From your point of view you may be right--but when one is young, and life stretches before you like a fair pleasure-ground, love and the smile of woman are like sunlight falling on flowers! You too must have felt this--in spite of what you say, there must have been a time in your life when you also loved!"
"Oh, I have had my fancies, of course!" I answered, with an indifferent laugh. "The woman I fancied turned out to be a saint--I was not worthy of her--at least, so I was told. At any rate, I was so convinced of her virtue and my own unworthiness--that--I left her."
He looked surprised. "An odd reason, surely, for resigning her, was it not?"
"Very odd--very unusual--but a sufficient one for me. Pray let us talk of something more interesting--your pictures, for instance. When may I see them?"
"When you please," he answered, readily--"though I fear they are scarcely worth a visit. I have not worked much lately. I really doubt whether I have any that will merit your notice."
"You underrate your powers, signor," I said with formal politeness. "Allow me to call at your studio this afternoon. I have a few minutes to spare between three and four o'clock, if that time will suit you."