"
"Never mind what I am now. I am not as good as you choose to think. If I
were, there would not be a bitter thought left. I should have forgiven
all. Leave out of the question what I am now. Compare me as I was with
Regina as she is. That is how I put it, and I am right."
"Even if you were," Kalmon answered doubtfully, "the situation would be
the same, so far as Aurora is concerned."
"But suppose that this poor woman cannot die in peace unless she has
asked Aurora's pardon and obtained her forgiveness, what then?"
"Her forgiveness? For what?"
"For coming between her and Marcello. Say that, so far as Regina knows,
my daughter is the only human being she has ever injured, what then?"
"Does Aurora love Marcello?" asked Kalmon, instead of answering the
question.
"I think she does. I am almost sure of it."
Kalmon was silent for a while.
"But Marcello," he said at last, "what of him?"
"He has always loved Aurora," the Contessa answered. "Do you blame him
so much for what he has done? Why do you blame some people so easily, my
dear friend, and others not at all? Do you realise what happened to him?
He was virtually taken out of the life he was leading, by a blow that
practically destroyed his memory, and of which the consequences
altogether destroyed his will for some time. He found himself saved and
at the same time loved--no, worshipped--by one of the most beautiful
women in the world.
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