III + 

When at last he got home he went to Maddalena, and he laid his head down on her knee, and he told her about the child without eyes, and all the while he was talking he wept; and over and over again he must tell her about the child without eyes. + 

She sat there gently stroking his hair, murmuring her pity for the little blind creature, murmuring her pity for the desolate man who crouched there sobbing at her knee. And when he had cried for more than an hour he looked up into Maddalena’s face. + 

“I struck you⁠—” he whispered. “I struck you, Maddalena.” And his tearful eyes were amazed. + 

She shook her head slowly: “It was only your hand⁠—you have never struck me, Gian-Luca.” And stooping, she kissed the guilty hand and forgave it and pressed it to her cheek. + 

Then he said: “I am very tired, Maddalena, and tomorrow I must go to the Doric; I think I should like to sleep for a little, only⁠—sit by me, Maddalena.” + 