The woman's shoulders shook, and she rocked back and forth. She could
not speak. Tilia sat on Sophia's bed holding the sobbing woman in her
arms.
Tilia, calling her Francesca, tried to calm her. Sophia at first had
thought Francesca was a madwoman. Her tunic was torn and rain-wet, her
long black hair not bound up and covered but in wild disarray.
"You are safe now, piccione," Tilia kept saying. "Calm down and tell us
what happened." Tilia herself was pale, her wide mouth drawn tight.
Seeing even Tilia's face grim, Sophia felt a chill of apprehension and
an even greater anxiety to know what this was all about.
"I know I should not come here, Madama. Forgive me. But I did not know
what else to do. I walked so far to get here, and I kept getting lost,
and I was afraid to ask anyone where Cardinal Ugolini's mansion was."
"How did you know I was here, Francesca?" Tilia asked.
"Cassio told me just before--before--" Francesca was convulsed with
sobs.