and I loved it with a human affection; for, alas!--hast thou not
suspected it?--there was an awful doom."

Here Giovanni frowned so darkly upon her that Beatrice paused and
trembled. But her faith in his tenderness reassured her, and made
her blush that she had doubted for an instant.

"There was an awful doom," she continued, "the effect of my
father's fatal love of science, which estranged me from all
society of my kind. Until Heaven sent thee, dearest Giovanni, oh,
how lonely was thy poor Beatrice!"

"Was it a hard doom?" asked Giovanni, fixing his eyes upon her.

"Only of late have I known how hard it was," answered she,
tenderly. "Oh, yes; but my heart was torpid, and therefore
quiet."

Giovanni's rage broke forth from his sullen gloom like a
lightning flash out of a dark cloud.

"Accursed one!" cried he, with venomous scorn and anger. "And,
finding thy solitude wearisome, thou hast severed me likewise
from all the warmth of life and enticed me into thy region of
unspeakable horror!"

"Giovanni!" exclaimed Beatrice, turning her large bright eyes
upon his face. The force of his words had not found its way into
her mind; she was merely thunderstruck.