They were
shed by lamps or candles set in the windows of the fishermen's
cottages in the village.
Had Hermione gone to the village?
She might have left the island with some definite purpose, or moved by
a blind impulse to get away, and be alone. Artois could not tell. But
she had taken the /fattura della morte/.
He wondered whether she knew its meaning, with what sinister intention
it had been made. Something in the little worthless thing must have
attracted her, have fascinated her, or she would not have taken it. In
her distress of mind, in her desire for solitude, she would have
hastened away and left it lying where it was.
Perhaps she had a purpose in leaving the island with the /fattura
della morte/.
Her taking of it began to seem to Artois, as it had evidently seemed
to Gaspare, a fact of profound significance. His imagination, working
with an almost diseased rapidity and excitement, brought before him a
series of scenes in which the death-charm figured as symbol.
Pages:
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915
916
917
918
919
920
921
922
923
924
925
926
927
928
929
930
931
932