"Happy!" echoed Fay.
"Yes, happy. He said he had committed a great sin, but that he hoped and believed that he was now expiating it, and that it would be forgiven."
"I am absolutely certain," said Fay in a suffocated voice, "that Michael did not murder the Marchese di Maltagliala."
"That is impossible," said Wentworth.
"Then what great sin can he be expiating?"
Even as Fay asked the question she knew the answer. Michael believed he was expiating the sin of loving another man's wife. In his mind that was probably on a par with the murder he had not committed.
"I asked him that," said Wentworth, "but he would not say. He would only repeat that his punishment was just."
Two large tears ran down Fay's cheeks.
"It is unjust, unjust, unjust!" she gasped. "Why does God allow these dreadful things?"
There was a long silence.