“I remember, and will keep it.”
When he was gone, they looked at each other in silence. Andrea Lieti had an awkward feeling that it would have been right and proper for him to leave with her cousin. Lucia, on the contrary, settled herself more comfortably in her rocking-chair; she had hidden her slippered foot under the Turkish gown, whose heavy folds completely enveloped her person.
“Will you give me that Bible, on the table, Signor Lieti?”
“Has the hour struck for prayer, Signorina?” he asked in a jesting tone.
“No,” replied Lucia; “for I am always praying. But when something unusual, something very unusual happens to me, then I open the Bible haphazard, and I read the first verse that meets my eye. There is always counsel, guidance, presentiment or a fatality in the words.”
She did as she said. She read a verse several times over, under her breath, as if to herself and in amazement.... Then she read aloud: “I love them that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.”
He listened, surprised. This singular mysticism inspired him with a sort of anger. He held his tongue, with the good breeding of a man who would not willingly hurt a young lady’s feelings, but the episode struck him as a very ridiculous one.
“Did you hear, Signor Lieti?” she added, as if in defiance.
“I heard. It was very fine.... Love is always an interesting topic, whether in the Old or the New Testament, or elsewhere....”
“Signor Lieti!”