She was hurt by the tone, and looked down meekly, as if she had deserved the words.
"We love each other with all our hearts," said Sabina, before either of the others could say more. "Nothing shall ever part us, in this world or the next."
There was a ring of clear defiance to fate in the girl's voice, and Signora Malipieri turned to her quickly, with a look of sympathy. She knew the cry that comes from the heart.
"But you think that you can never be married," she said, almost to herself.
"How can we? You know that we cannot!" It was Malipieri who answered.
Then the timid little woman raised her head and looked him full in the face, and spoke without any more hesitation.
"Do you think that I have never thought of this possibility, during all these years?" she asked. "Do you really believe that I would let you suffer for me, let your life be broken, let you give up the best thing that any life holds, after you have done for me what perhaps no man ever did for a woman before?"
"I know you are grateful," Malipieri answered very gently. "Do not speak of what I have done. It has not been at any sacrifice, till now."
But Sabina leaned forward and grasped the Signora Malipieri's hands.
Her own were trembling.
"You have come to help us!" she cried. "It is so easy, now that I know that you love each other."