What could you hope for,
against such a charge as that? Men might even remember that other affair
of Fifanti's and even the populace, which may be said to have saved you
erstwhile, might veer round and change from the opinion which it has ever
held. They would say that one who has done such a thing once may do it
twice; that..."
"0, for pity's sake, stop! Have mercy!" I cried, flinging out my arms
towards her. And mercifully she ceased, perceiving that she had said
enough.
I turned to the window again, and pressed my brow against the cool glass.
She was right. That acute mind of hers had pierced straight to the very
core of this matter. To do the thing that had been in my mind would be not
only to destroy myself, but to defile her; for upon her would recoil a
portion of the odium that must be flung at me. And--as she said--what then
must be her position? They would even have a case upon which to drag her
from these walls of Pagliano. She would be a victim of the civil courts;
she might, at Pier Luigi's instigation, be proceeded against as my
accomplice in what would be accounted a dastardly murder for the basest of
motives.
I turned to her again.
"You are right," I said. "I see that you are right. Just as I was right
when I said that my atonement lies here and now.
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