Note: Translator Pauline Bancroft Flach died in 1966, less than 70 years ago. Therefore, this work is protected by copyright, restricting your legal rights to reproduce it. However, you are welcome to view it on screen, as you do now. Read more about copyright.
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94 the miracles of antichrist
And all this she said to Gaetano, who honored the
black Madonna of Diamante more than anything else
in the world.
He now came close up to Donna Micaela, and she
feared that it was her last hour. She said in a faint
voice, as if to excuse herself: “I am mad. Grief is
driving me mad. I never sleep.”
But Gaetano’s only thought had been what a child
she was, and that she did not at all understand how
to meet life.
He hardly knew himself what he was doing when
he gently drew her to him and kissed her, because
she had gone so astray and was such a helpless
child.
She was so overcome with astonishment that she
did not even think of avoiding it. And she neither
screamed nor ran away. She understood instantly
that he had kissed her as he would a child. She
only walked quickly on and began to cry. That kiss
had made her feel how helpless and forsaken she
was, and how much she longed for some one strong
and good to take care of her.
It was terrible that, although she had both father
and husband, she should be so forsaken that this
stranger should need to feel sympathy for her.
When Gaetano saw her trembling with silent sobs,
he felt that he too began to shake. A strong and
violent emotion took possession of him.
He came close to her once more and laid his hand
on her arm. And his voice, when he spoke, was
not clear and loud; it was thick and choked with
emotion.
“Will you go with me to Argentina if the
Madonna does not help you ?”
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