"In loving?"

"In loving passionately something that was utterly worthy to be
loved."

Artois was silent. He knew Hermione's mistake. He knew what had never
been told him: that Maurice had been false to her for the love of the
peasant girl Maddalena. He knew that Maurice had been done to death by
the betrayed girl's father, Salvatore. And Gaspare knew these things,
too. But through all these years these two men had so respected
silence, the nobility of it, the grand necessity of it in certain
circumstances of life, that they had never spoken to each other of the
black truth known to them both. Indeed, Artois believed that even now,
after more than sixteen years, if he ventured one word against the
dead man Gaspare would be ready to fly at his throat in defence of the
loved Padrone. For this divined and persistent loyalty Artois had a
sensation of absolute love. Between him and Gaspare there must always
be the barrier of a great and mutual reserve. Yet that very reserve,
because there was something truly delicate, and truly noble in it, was
as a link of steel between them. They were watchdogs of Hermione. They
had been watchdogs through all these years, guarding her from the
knowledge of a truth. And so well had they done her service that now
to-day she was able to say, with clasped hands and the light of
passion in her eyes:

"Something that was utterly worthy to be loved."

When Artois spoke again he said:

"And that force cannot be fully used in loving Vere?"