'It is older than ours, of course,' she told Deborah, 'but ours is very much grander. In medieval times their ideas of scale hadn't developed as they did later on.' Her disparaging tones caught Deborah on the raw. 'I suppose it's a matter of taste,' she said, there being no doubt which she herself preferred, 'but I shouldn't like my home to be thought ostentatious even if it were a palace.' 'One has a responsibility to one's family's history,' Alessandra shrugged. 'I am always telling Domenico what he owes to his family's name. I can't be expected to be forever rescuing him from every predicament he gets himself into.' Deborah was doubly glad that her hat half-hid her face. 'Has he asked you to?' she inquired sweetly. 'Everyone knows how desirable a connection between our families would be. The Manzus have never been sufficiently careful of their reputations, unfortunately, but no one has ever questioned that we have always been everything we ought.
