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the bells of san pasquale. 107
to understand that God and all the saints wished
and demanded that they should love each other,
else those great misfortunes had not brought her to
him. And if the Madonna refused to help her, then
it was because she wished to release her from her
promise of fidelity to Don Ferrante. For all the
heavenly ones knew that she was his, Gaetano’s.
For him she was created, for him she had grown up,
for him she lived. When he had kissed her on the
road in the moonlight, he had been like a lost
child, that long had roamed in the wilderness, and
now had come at last to home’s portal. He possessed
nothing. But she was his home and his hearth, she
was the inheritance God had intended for him, the
only thing in the world that was his.
Therefore he would not leave her behind. She
must go with him, she must, she must.
He did not fall on his knees before her. He stood
talking to her with clenched hands and flashing eyes.
He did not beg her, he commanded her to accompany
him, because she was his.
It was no sin to carry her away, but rather his duty
to do so.
Donna Micaela listened to him without making a
movement. She was silent for some time, even after
he had ceased speaking.
" When are you going ? " she asked at length.
" I leave Diamante next Saturday."
" And when does the steamer go ? "
"Sunday night from Messina."
Donna Micaela rose and went over towards the
terrace steps.
" My father goes to Catania on Saturday," she
13
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