PAOLO. Why do you prolong this torment? You said when there is no more danger! What danger is there? Upon whom depends this danger--from you or from me? What can time change for us? I have always loved you, I love you now, and in this moment I love you as I have never loved you! Give me your hand--only your hand. God, Anna! You are beautiful! And you are my wife--you are my wife and the oath which you took when we were married, is not only one of faithfulness, but of love. Come away--come away. ANNA. No, no, no. PAOLO. No? Are you afraid? Afraid of being unfaithful to him? ANNA. Paolo--Paolo! PAOLO. And if I wish it? ANNA. You cannot wish it. PAOLO. And if I want? ANNA. Paolo!-- PAOLO. And if I command? ANNA. You will, in one moment, destroy all my plan. Think--your violence is a liberation for me. PAOLO. Oh, come--or speak! ANNA. Do you wish it so? We have come to that? I have done all that I could. PAOLO. Yes, go on. Speak! ANNA. I loved Luciano and I love him still. PAOLO. Oh! ANNA. I loved him. I loved him--do you hear? I loved him and I feel an immense joy to say it here and you did not see that I was dying to say it--and when I saw you nearly stifling me with your ferocious curiosity, I said to myself: "It will out--it will out"... And it has come. I loved him, I love him and I have never loved any one in the world but him and I feel only remorse for my virtue. Now do you know? PAOLO. Very well! [_Starts to go._] ANNA. Ah, no. Remain here--now you hear me. You wished that I speak, now I do.... It is I now who command you to stay. You must understand very well that after a scene such as this, everything is finished between us, so I must tell you everything. I listened to you and will listen to you again if you wish, but you also must listen to me. What have you ever done for me? What help have you given me? Have you known how to see when it was right that you should see? Have you known even how to suspect? Was it necessary that a man die.... Not even that! When you were not suffering, as you are suffering now, did you know how to see the way I suffered? You thought that my sorrow was for a dead relative! You did not understand that I was crazed; you slept next to me and yet you did not realize that the first few nights I bit the covers so as not to cry out. In a moment you realize all the facts. And what are these facts? That I, your wife for many years, have defended your peace in silence. I have fulfilled that which people call my duty. Then your curiosity is awakened and to make up for lost time you wish to violate my soul and penetrate down to its very depths. Ah--Paolo, no, no; one cannot do this. No, it will not help to know everything. One does not enter into the soul by the front door; one enters by stealth. You have tried to force an entrance; now you see there is nothing more inside for you.