'You could help me; you could get me out of this momentary embarrassment. I will give you back the money at once.'
'I have no money.'
'You have some valuables. Those diamond earrings I gave you: they are worth a great deal. One could get a lot for them.'
'Would you like to sell them?' said she, shutting her eyes as if she saw something horrible.
'I would pledge them—just take them to the pawn-shop, only for a few days. They will be redeemed at once.'
'Do you intend to pawn the diamond earrings?'
'And the star—the star Don Gennaro Parascandolo gave you,' he said hurriedly, in an anxious tone.
She said nothing, just kept her head down and looked at the baby quietly sleeping. Then, in a whisper, with an irrepressible shudder, she said to her husband:
'You want to pawn my jewels so as to stake on the lottery.'
'That is not true!' he cried out.