"Is it so?" asked Giuditta Astarita.
"Yes. It is true," said Bosio, in uncertain tones. "And I wish to know—whether—" he stopped.
"Whether the grey-faced man and the handsome woman whose eyes are near together will really kill her?" asked the spirit voice.
Bosio felt his soft hair rising on his head. "Do you know who I am?" he asked nervously.
"No," replied the voice of Giuditta. "The spirits know everything, but I do not. They only speak through me with another voice. I do not know what they are going to say. You need have no apprehension. This is more sacred than the confessional, Signore, more secret than the tomb."
The phrase sounded as though it had been carefully studied and often repeated, but the dramatic tone in which it was uttered produced a certain reassuring effect upon Bosio, in his half-frightened state.
"Do you wish to tell whether they will really kill Veronica?" inquired Giuditta. "If you have any question to ask, you must put it quickly. I cannot keep the spirits waiting. They exhaust me when they are impatient."
"What shall I do to avoid marrying her?" asked Bosio, suddenly springing to the main point of his doubts.
"The handsome woman whose eyes are near together will make you marry
Veronica," said the spirit voice.
"But if I refuse? If I say that I will not? What then? Is her life really in danger?"