"Well," said Annunziata, with an air of deliberation, "if you are
perfectly sure I shall not go to Hell, and that my Purgatory will not
be long and hard, I think I will do what I said. I will lie down in the
water and go to sleep, and the water will drown me, and I shall die."

Maria Dolores' face was terrified. "Annunziata!" she cried. "You don't
know what you are saying. You are cruel. You won't do anything of the
sort. You must give me your solemn word of honour that you won't do
anything of the sort. It would be a most dreadful sin. Come. Come with
me now, away from here, away from the sight of the river. You must never
come here alone again. Give me your hand, and come away."

Annunziata got up, gave her hand, and moved off at Maria Dolores' side,
towards the Castle. "Of course," she said, "if I want to die, I don't
need to lie down in the water. I can die at any moment I wish, by just
shutting my eyes, and holding my breath, and telling my heart seven
times to stop beating. Heart, stop beating; heart, stop beating;--that
way, seven times."

"For the love of Mercy," wailed poor Maria Dolores, almost writhing in
her misery.... Then, suddenly, she breathed a deep sigh of relief, and
fervently exclaimed, "Thank God." John was advancing towards them, down
the rugged pathway.

"Do please come and help me with this perverse and maddening child," she
called to him, in English. "She's frightening me half out of my wits by
threatening to die. She even threatened to drown herself in the Rampio."

"Children of her complexion can't die," said John, in Italian, (and
Annunziata pricked up her ears). "They can only turn into monkeys, and