'You were mistaken. There is a power that can, and that rests with the Pope, and he shall exercise it.'
'I will not ask for a dispensation. I have told you that it is an impossibility——'
'There is no such thing as impossibility for men and women who love,' Giovanni answered. 'Have you forgotten the last words you said to me before I sailed for Africa?' He spoke gently now, and Sister Giovanna turned her face from him. 'You said, "I will wait for you for ever." Do you remember?'
'Yes. I remember.'
'Did you "wait for ever," Angela?'
She looked at him again, and then came forward a little, drawn by an impulse she could not resist.
'Did I love another man, that you reproach me?' she asked. 'Such as my life has been, have I lived it as a woman lives who has forgotten? I know I have not. Yes, Giovanni, I have waited, but as one waits who hopes to meet in heaven the dear one who is dead on earth. Do you still find fault with me? Would you rather have had me go back to the world and to society after mourning you as long as a girl of nineteen could mourn for a man to whom she had not been openly engaged? Was I wrong? If you had really been dead and could have seen me, would you have wished that I were living differently?'
For a moment he was moved and held out one hand towards her, hoping that she would come nearer.
'No,' he answered—'no, dear——'
'But that was the only question,' she said earnestly, 'and you have answered it!'