The impotence
of his mind seemed to her an impotence of heart just then. He was to her
like a numbed creature, incapable of movement, incapable of thought,
incapable of belief. Credulity--yes, but not belief. And so, when she
looked at the believers, she saw but a few people: Robin Pierce, Sir
Donald--whom else?
And then she heard, as if far off, the song she would sing on the morrow
at Manchester House.
"Torna in fior di giovinezza
Isaotta Blanzesmano,
Dice: Tutto al mondo a vano:
Nell'amore ogni dolcezza."
And then she cried again, but no longer frantically; quietly, with a sort
of childish despair and confusion. In her heart there had opened a dark
space, a gulf. She peered into it and heard, deep down in it, hollow
echoes resounding, and she recoiled from a vision of emptiness.
* * * * * * *
On the following day Fritz drove her himself to Manchester House in a new
motor he had recently bought. All the morning he had stayed at home and
fidgeted about the house. It was obvious to his wife that he was in an
unusually distracted frame of mind. He wanted to tell her something, yet
could not do so. She saw that plainly, and she felt almost certain that
since their interview of the previous day he had seen Miss Schley. She
fancied that there had been a scene of some kind between them, and she
guessed that Fritz had been hopelessly worsted in it and was very sorry
for himself.
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