Barbara Quick

You've done her a service to teach her that romantic love is largely made of illusion." [said Mina.] "Is it?" Alessandra asked, unable to suppress a worried sigh. Mina looked at her as if she knew exactly what Alessandra was thinking. "I said 'romantic love,' my dear--not true love." "But how can one know," asked Alessandra, "one from the other?" "True love," said Mina, "is something that reveals itself only with the passage of time.