'She has--oh God, she has betrayed you!'
'Oh!' I staggered back.
'Forgive me!'
'Why did you not tell me before?'
'Ah, how could I? You loved her as I have never seen man love woman.'
'Did you not think of my honour?'
'I thought of your happiness. It is better to have happiness without
honour, than honour without happiness.'
'For you,' I groaned, 'but not for me.'
'You are of the same flesh and blood, and you suffer as we do. I could
not destroy your happiness.'
'Oh, Giulia! Giulia!' Then, after a while, I asked again, 'But are you
sure?'
'Alas, there is no doubt!'
'I cannot believe it! Oh God, help me! You don't know how I loved her!
She could not! Let me see it with my own eyes, Fabio.'
We both stood silent; then a horrible thought struck me.
'Do you know--when they meet?' I whispered.
He groaned. I asked again.
'God help me!'
'You know? I command you to tell me.'
'They did not know you were coming back till after to-morrow.'
'He is coming?'
'To-day.'
'Oh!' I seized him by the hand. 'Take me, and let me see them.'
'What will you do?' he asked, horror-stricken.
'Never mind, take me!'
Trembling, he led me through ante-rooms and passages, till he brought me
to a staircase. We mounted the steps and came to a little door. He
opened it very quietly, and we found ourselves behind the arras of
Giulia's chamber. I had forgotten the existence of door and steps, and
she knew nothing of them. There was an opening in the tapestry to give
exit.
No one was in the room. We waited, holding our breath. At last Giulia
entered. She walked to the window and looked out, and went back to the
door. She sat down, but sprang up restlessly, and again looked out of
window. Whom was she expecting?
She walked up and down the room, and her face was full of anxiety. I
watched intently. At last a light knock was heard; she opened the door
and a man came in. A small, slight, thin man, with a quantity of
corn-coloured hair falling over his shoulders, and a pale, fair skin. He
had blue eyes, and a little golden moustache. He looked hardly twenty,
but I knew he was older.
He sprang forward, seizing her in his arms, and he pressed her to his
heart, but she pushed him back.
'Oh, Giorgio, you must go,' she cried. 'He has come back.'
'Your husband?'
'I hoped you would not come. Go quickly. If he found you he would kill
us both.'
'Tell me you love me, Giulia.'
'Oh yes, I love you with all my heart and soul.'
For a moment they stood still in one another's arms, then she tore
herself away.
'But go, for God's sake!'
'I go, my love. Good-bye!'
'Good-bye, beloved!'
He took her in his arms again, and she placed hers around his neck. They
kissed one another passionately on the lips; she kissed him as she had
never kissed me.
'Oh!' I gave a cry of rage, and leaped out of my concealment. In a bound
I had reached him. They hardly knew I was there; and I had plunged my
dagger in his neck. Giulia gave a piercing shriek as he fell with a
groan. The blood spattered over my hand. Then I looked at her. She ran
from me with terror-stricken face, her eyes starting from her head. I
rushed to her and she shrieked again, but Fabio caught hold of my arm.
'Not her, not her too!'
I wrenched my hand away from him, and then--then as I saw her pallid
face and the look of deathly terror--I stopped. I could not kill her.
'Lock that door,' I said to Fabio, pointing to the one from which we had
come. Then, looking at her, I screamed,--
'Harlot!'
I called to Fabio, and we left the room. I locked the door, and she
remained shut in with her lover....
I called my servants and bade them follow me, and went out. I walked
proudly, surrounded by my retainers, and I came to the house of
Bartolomeo Moratini. He had just finished dinner, and was sitting with
his sons. They rose as they saw me.
'Ah, Filippo, you have returned.' Then, seeing my pale face, they cried,
'But what is it? What has happened?'
And Bartolomeo broke in.
'What is that on your hand, Filippo?'