I like to think that her death was brought about as the result of a good
deed--so easily might it have been the consequence of an evil one. And I
trust that that deed--good in itself, whatever the sources from which it
may have sprung--may have counted in her favour and weighed in the balance
against the sins that were largely of her nature.
I bethought me of Fra Gervasio's words to me: "Who that knows all that goes
to the making of a sin shall ever dare to blame a sinner?" He had applied
those words to my own case where Giuliana was concerned. But do they not
apply equally to Giuliana? Do they not apply to every sinner, when all is
said?
CHAPTER XII
BLOOD
The words that passed between Bianca and me that evening in the dining-room
express all that can be said of our attitude to each other during the
months that followed. Daily we met, and the things which our lips no
longer dared to utter, our eyes expressed.
Days passed and grew to weeks, and these accumulated into months. The
autumn faded from gold to grey, and the winter came and laid the earth to
sleep, and then followed spring to awaken it once more.
None troubled us at Pagliano, and we began with some justice to consider
ourselves secure. Galeotto's memorial, not a doubt, had stirred up
matters; and Pier Luigi would be under orders from his father not to add
one more scandal to the many of his life by venturing to disturb Madonna
Bianca in her stronghold at Pagliano.
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