The road led upwards by
a gentle ascent zigzagging through groves of olives and holly trees.
Now they reached a place where the horses had to go more slowly, and
Casanova alighted to stroll beside the carriage. Marcolina talked of
the lovely scenery round Bologna, and of the evening walks she was
in the habit of taking with Professor Morgagni's daughter. She also
mentioned that she was planning a journey to France next year, in
order to make the personal acquaintance of Saugrenue, the celebrated
mathematician at the university of Paris, with whom she had
corresponded. "Perhaps," she said with a smile, "I may look in at Ferney
on the way, in order to learn from Voltaire's own lips how he has
been affected by the polemic of the Chevalier de Seingalt, his most
formidable adversary."
Casanova was walking with a hand on the side of the carriage, close to
Marcolina's arm. Her loose sleeve was touching his fingers. He answered
quietly: "It matters less what M. Voltaire thinks about the matter
than what posterity thinks. A final decision upon the merits of the
controversy must be left to the next generation."
"Do you really think," said Marcolina earnestly, "that final decisions
can be reached in questions of this character?"
"I am surprised that you should ask such a thing, Marcolina.
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