"Oh, Father, enough ... seek no more, if you do not wish to see me die of shame at your feet."
"Well! But was your lover a relative of yours? What is his name?"
If Isabella had been less moved at that moment, the name of Troilo would have certainly escaped from her mouth: but unable to speak, being forced to catch her breath, she remembered she was not obliged to reveal the name of the accomplice, but rather charity imposed upon her to keep it religiously secret; hence when the confessor insisted:
"Was your lover a relative of yours? What is his name?"
She resolutely replied:
"I accuse myself, not others. I cannot tell you more, nor ought you to ask, nor I to tell."
"What! This is important! For the sin varies and increases according to the degree of the relationship. And it behooves me to explain to you, that two are the forms of relationship, the first natural, the second religious; that is, for example, to hold a child for baptism, confirmation, and so forth.... Hence by the canonical laws, the cousin of your husband, for example, would be a relative of the second degree, and then the adultery would become incest, a sin which offends God more, and disturbs a great deal more the laws of civil life."
"Alas! you make me shudder with horror!"
"Now then, speak: is the man a relative of yours?"
"Yes, a cousin of my husband."