Beltrami stopped and looked at me steadily with a grave look in his bright eyes.
"Hugo, mon ami," he said slowly, "I neither deny nor affirm, what you say. Giulietta Morone was a demon who came into the world to work evil, and God, wearied of her crimes, sent her back to the hell from whence she came. I am not much given to religion, Hugo, as you know, but I believe in a God; and whosoever He chose as an instrument to destroy that which He permitted to exist, rest assured that such a one will be held guiltless for executing the just decree of Heaven!"
He ceased speaking, and we walked on in silence through the crowded streets under the dark-blue summer sky. I understood perfectly what he meant, and whether it was right or wrong it is not for me to say, still I firmly believe that this man obeyed his impulse at that terrible time, not from any selfish motive, but because he saw clearly that in removing this frightful creature from the world he was doing a service to the humanity upon which she preyed.
All the same, I do not intend to visit the Marchese Beltrami at his Florentine palazzo.