“Oh! my God! what torture is this? I have not deserved it.”
Suddenly it turned dark. She uttered a cry of dismay.
“It is nothing, we are passing through the Grotta. Fear nothing, I love you.”
“This love is a misfortune, a tragedy.”
“Have you not already told me this in the park?”
“Yes....”
“Well, Lucia, my life shall be passed in craving your pardon for having brought this misery upon you, I know that you are my victim. I know that I brought you to ruin. I demand of you an immense sacrifice. I know it, but are you not the personification of sacrifice? You are an example of noble abnegation, you are virtue and purity incarnate. You will see what my love for you is—how I shall adore you.”
“And Caterina and Alberto?
“We will go away together, never to return,” he persisted obstinately.
“We shall be accursed, Andrea.”