Moreover, the friends who had spoken to him of Giuditta Astarita had told him similar tales within a few days.
The spirit had said that the handsome woman would make him marry Veronica.

But what had the silence meant, when he had asked more?
That was the question.

Did it mean that the spirit was unwilling to affirm that Veronica must die if he refused to marry her?
He passed his hand over his eyes as he walked.

This was the end of the nineteenth century; he was in Naples, in the largest city of an enlightened country.

And yet, the situation might have been taken from the times of the Medici, of Paolo Giordano Orsini, of Beatrice Cenci, of the Borgia.