"Well, then, why should Gaspare look like that?"

"Oh," said Artois, who saw the discomfort of his host, "perhaps there is

some family feud that you know nothing of. When I was in Sicily I found

the people singularly subtle. They can gossip terribly, but they can keep

a secret when they choose. If I had won the real friendship of a

Sicilian, I would rather trust him with my secret than a man of any other

race. They are not only loyal--that is not enough--but they are also very

intelligent."

"Yes, they are both--the good ones," said Hermione. "I would trust

Gaspare through thick and thin. If they were only as stanch in love as

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they can be in friendship!"

Gaspare came out again with another course. The ugly expression had gone

from his face, but he still looked unusually grave.

"Ah, when the senses are roused they are changed beings," Artois said.

"They hate and resent governance from outside, but their blood governs

them."

"Our blood governs us when the time comes--do you remember?"

Hermione had said the words before she remembered the circumstances in

which they had been spoken and of whom they were said. Directly she had

uttered them she remembered.

"What was that?" Maurice asked, before Artois could reply.

He had seen a suddenly conscious look in Hermione's face, and instantly

he was aware of a feeling of jealousy within him.

"What was that?" he repeated, looking quickly from one to the other.

"Something I remember saying to your wife," Artois answered. "We were

talking about human nature--a small subject, monsieur, isn't it?--and I

think I expressed the view of a fatalist. At any rate, I did say

that--that our blood governs us when the time comes."

"The time?" Maurice asked.

His feeling of jealousy died away, and was replaced by a keen personal

interest unmingled with suspicions of another.

"Well, I confess it sometimes seems to me as if, when a certain hour

strikes, a certain deed must be committed by a certain man or woman. It

is perhaps their hour of madness. They may repent it to the day of their

death. But can they in that hour avoid that deed? Sometimes, when I

witness the tragic scenes that occur abruptly, unexpectedly, in the

comedy of life, I am moved to wonder."

"Then you should be very forgiving, Emile," Hermione said.

"And you?" he asked. "Are you, or would you be, forgiving?"




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