human
Tell me, please. I should like to know. After all, she was my daughter.
gpt
Yes, said Francesca, gravely.
human
She was your daughter. She was very unhappy with Paul Griggs, and she found out very soon that she had made a dreadful mistake. She loved her husband, after all.
gpt
Like a woman!
human
They went out to spend the summer at Subiaco--
gpt
At Subiaco?
human
Yes, during the heat. They lodged in the house of a man called Stefanone--a wine-seller--a very respectable place.
gpt
Very respectable,
human
You know the house?
gpt
Very well indeed. I was there nearly five and twenty years ago. I supposed that Stefanone was dead by this time.
human
No. He and his wife are alive, and take lodgers.
gpt
Excuse me, but how do you know all this?
human
I have been there, answered Francesca.
gpt
I have often been to the convent. You know that one of our family is generally abbess. A Cardinal Braccio was archbishop, too, a good many years ago. Casa Braccio owns a good deal of property there.
human
Yes. I know that you are of the family.
gpt
My name was Francesca Braccio, said Francesca, quietly.
human
Of course I have always known Subiaco, and every one there knows Stefanone, and the story of his daughter who ran away with an Englishman many years ago, and never was heard of again.
gpt
Oh! he exclaimed.
human
Does every one know that story?
gpt
Yes--in Subiaco, she answered.
human
But Gloria-- she lingered a little sadly on the name--
gpt
Gloria wrote letters to her husband from there and begged him to go and see her.
human
He could hardly be expected to do that, said Lord Redin, his hard tone returning.
gpt
Did you advise him to go?
human
He consulted me, answered Francesca, rather coldly.
gpt
I told him to follow his own impulse. He did not go. He did not believe that she was sincere.
human
I do not blame him. When a woman has done that sort of thing, there is no reason for believing her.
gpt
He should have gone. I should have influenced him, I think, and I did wrong. She wrote him one more letter and then killed herself. She suffered horribly and only died two days afterwards. Shall I tell you more?
human
If there is more to tell,
gpt
There is not much. I went out there last year. They had refused her Christian burial. Paul Griggs bought a piece of land amongst the rock, on the other side of the torrent, and buried her there. It is surrounded by a wall, and there is a plain slab without a name. There are flowers. He pays Stefanone to have it cared for. They told me all they knew--it is too terrible. She died singing--she was out of her mind. It must have been dreadful. Old Nanna, Stefanone's wife, was in the room, and fainted with terror. It seems that poor Gloria, oddly enough, had an extraordinary resemblance to that unfortunate nun of our family who was burned to death in the convent, and whom Nanna had often seen. She sang like her, too--at the last minute Nanna thought she saw poor sister Maria Addolorata standing up dead and singing. It was rather strange.