X.
Livia was the first to return to herself and put an end to my singular and ill-timed reverie.
“I hope, however, you do not imagine my resolution is to be attributed to the jettatura,” she said.
These words immediately recalled me to a sense of all that had taken place the previous hour. I reflected an instant, and then replied:
“No; I know too well what you yourself would think of a vocation that had such an origin.”
“And yet I cannot deny,” she said, “that it has had a certain influence on my destiny; for, thanks to the jettatura, I have had a heavy, mysterious cross to bear. It is not to get rid of this cross I wish to leave the world, but to embrace it more closely and experience more fully the blessings it has revealed to me.”
“That is above my comprehension, Livia. I no longer understand you.”
“You know very well, however, do you not, that love is the chief element of happiness?” said she slowly.
“Yes, I believe that. Happiness consists chiefly in loving and being loved, I imagine. Everything else is merely accessory.”
“And you know what is accessory loses all importance when the whole heart and soul are absorbed in some adored and adorable being?”