Oliveta's lips writhed into a tortured smile. "Never fear, I shall place the loop about his neck where my arms have lain. He has told me little, for I feared to listen. But wait! Give me time."
Vittoria cried in a shocked voice: "Child! Not—that,"
"It was from him I learned of Gian Narcone and his other friends; now I shall learn from his own mouth the whole truth. He shall weave the rope for his own destruction. Oh, he is like water in my hands, and I shall lie in his arms—"
"Lucrezia! You can't touch him—knowing—"
"I will have the truth, if I give myself to him in payment, if I am damned for eternity. God has chosen me!"
She broke down into frightful sobs. With sisterly affection the other woman put her arms about her and tried to soothe her. At length she led her away, but for a long time Norvin could hear sounds of the peasant girl's grief. When Vittoria reappeared her face was still pale and troubled.
"I can do nothing with her. She seems to think we are all divine instruments."
"Poor girl! She is in a frightful position. I'm too amazed to talk sensibly. But surely she won't persist."
"You do not know her; she is like iron. Even I have no power over her now, and I—fear for the result. She is Sicilian to the core, she will sacrifice her body, her soul, for vengeance, and that—man is a fiend."
"It's better to know the truth now than later."