Therefore Don Matteo asked her if her father were not soon coming out of prison, and he wondered what he would live on.
The signorina answered that he would live on her work.
Don Matteo asked her very seriously whether she had thought how her father, who had always been rich, could bear poverty.
Then she was silent. She tried to move her lips to answer, but could not utter a sound.
Don Matteo talked and talked. She looked more and more frightened, but she did not yield.
At last he knew not what to do. How could he save her from that haunted house, from poverty, and from the burden of dishonor that weighed her down? But then his eyes chanced to fall on the little image of the Madonna over the bed. So the young signorina was a believer.
The spirit of inspiration came to Don Matteo. He felt that God had sent him to save this poor woman. When he spoke again, there was a new ring in his voice. He understood that it was not he alone who spoke.
“My daughter,” he said, and rose, “you will marry Don Ferrante for your father’s sake! It is the Madonna’s will, my daughter.”
There was something impressive in Don Matteo’s manner. No one had ever seen him so before. The signorina trembled, as if a spirit voice had spoken to her, and she clasped her hands.