Marie Belloc Lowndes

“ He turned laughingly to Lily. “She tells me that I have a rival in her heart? You have made a conquest, Miss Lily! Cristina is hard to please where young ladies are concerned.”
There was no contradiction from Cristina, and he went on, shaking his finger at the old woman: “Never shall I forget bringing a beautiful lady to call on my mother! She was beautiful, but alas! her cheeks were too pink, her lips too red, her hair too yellow, to please the holy Cristina. So Cristina was very, very cold to the charming creature!” ”

“ Now, for the first time, it did strike her as very strange that Beppo should look so well-to-do, so entirely the idle man of fashion, while she knew the money his parents received from her as their paying guest meant so much to them. Once or twice the Countess had spoken to her as though Beppo was concerned with big business affairs; but if that were so, how could the small amount of money his mother might, or might not, send him, make the slightest difference to his movements?
On going downstairs, Lily went into the kitchen to see if she could help Cristina. ”

“ As she turned away Beppo called out after her: “Cristina? You might go to the Hidalgo Hotel before finding my parents. Get the first-floor valet—he's a very decent fellow, an Italian—to give you my dress clothes. I'll dress up here, in the delightful room which mamma has had prepared for me, and which I am not going to occupy—or at any rate not yet! And Cristina? Tell the valet to order a motor to come up for me at—let me see, you're early folk, aren't you, and the Club's open late—well, let's say half-past ten, and then I can spend a pleasant hour at the Club before turning in.” ”