"Was it my fault? Could I have done anything? Was it taken away because I didn't want it to come?"
"Mariana!"
"Do you remember that I said I hoped it would die? You knew they were idle words, didn't you? You knew that I didn't mean it?"
"Of course, my dearest."
"But somebody told me once that for every idle word we would be held to account. Is this the account?"
"Hush."
For a moment she would lie silent, and then, rising again, the torrent would come.
"Perhaps if I had not left the window open that first warm day. And I did not send for the doctor at once. I thought it was only fretful. Perhaps—"
"You could have done nothing."
"I did not know. I was so ignorant. I should have studied. I should have asked questions."