PAOLO. And this? And this? You count as little? Is this painful? I never had the shadow of a doubt about Anna, but--nor has the thought even passed through my mind--but it is different not to have doubted and not to have thought, than to possess the palpable proof of her faith and love. "I love my husband." It is the refrain of all her letters. MARIO. Was it necessary that she tell you this? PAOLO. She did not tell it to me, she told it to him. She told it to him--do you understand? Luciano had all the qualities which attract a woman. He was younger, better looking than I, well spoken, full of fire and courage. MARIO. How it pleases you, eh? To praise him now! PAOLO. Painful? If I had burned, as you wished, those papers and then one day I should have discovered this love, who could then have lifted this suspicion from my mind? MARIO. The certainty makes you suspicious! PAOLO. What do you mean? MARIO. If you had feared this a year ago, that which has happened would not have occurred. I was wrong not to have opened your eyes. A long way off, perhaps Luciano would not have killed himself. PAOLO. But I would have lacked the proof. MARIO. Your tranquility costs much--to the others. PAOLO. You can't pretend that I should feel badly about the fate of Luciano? MARIO. I am not speaking of him. PAOLO. Of whom? MARIO. Of your wife. Think what she must be suffering! PAOLO. Do you think she blames herself? MARIO. Of course. PAOLO. I have noticed that she was distressed but not agitated. MARIO. You do not see the continuous things, you only see the unexpected. Besides, Anna is mistress of herself. PAOLO. And she has done her duty. MARIO. It is a long time that she has done her duty. PAOLO. I shall know how to comfort her, there, I shall know how to cheer her. You shall see, Mario. I feel that we have returned to the first days of our marriage, that I possess her only from to-day. MARIO. Leave it to time. You have read--you have known. It is enough. It is useless that Anna knows you know. PAOLO. She was here when the Syndic gave me the wallet. But she went out immediately. MARIO. She does not know, then, that you have read? PAOLO. She will have imagined it. MARIO. No. And in any case she would be grateful if you pretended to ignore.... PAOLO. Let us be frank. Don't let's argue. Nothing is more dreadful than to plan out a line of conduct in these matters. What she has done, Anna has done for me. I must think how to repay her. She has done this for me, for me, do you understand? MARIO. And who says the contrary? See how you excite yourself. PAOLO. Excite myself! Certainly, I will not go and say: "I have read your letters and I thank you very much!" One understands that when I speak of comforting her and of cheering her I intend to do it with the utmost tenderness, with the utmost confidence. I have always been like that. That was why she loved me. There is no need to change even to please you. MARIO. How you take it!