A palm, blessed, and fashioned like a
dagger with a cross for the hilt, was nailed above it, with a coral
charm to protect the household against the evil eye. And a little to
the right of it was a small object which Hermione saw and wondered at
without understanding why it should be there, or what was its use--a
/Fattura della morte/ (death-charm), in the form of a green lemon
pierced with many nails. This hung by a bit of string to a nail
projecting from the wall.
From the death-charm Hermione turned her eyes to Maddalena.
She saw a woman who was surely not very much younger than herself,
with a broad and spreading figure, wide hips, plump though small-boned
arms, heavy shoulders. The face--that, perhaps--yes, that, certainly--
must have been once pretty. Very pretty? Hermione looked searchingly
at it until she saw Maddalena's eyes drop before hers suddenly, as if
embarrassed. She must say something. But now that she was here she
felt a difficulty in opening a conversation, an intense reluctance to
speak to this woman into whose house she had almost forced her way.
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