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I saw, far to h which I’d come to this place, and I hurried towards it, and then down the long alley towards the piazza before Vitale’s house

I was running with ate of the house, Pico caught ht ateway, out of the rain, and quickly dried my face with a clean dry cloth

A lone torch blazed in its iron sconce, and on a s candles

I stood shivering, hating the cold It was only a little war away

In ain, “a belief syste sentences he’d spoken and all the familiar phrases that had spilled from his lips I saw the passion in his eyes Then I heard that hiss when he’d confessed his name

I saw the fire again and heard the deafening roar that caainst the damp stone wall

A growing awareness ca for certain, even when your faith is great You don’t know it Your longing, your anguish, can be without end Even here, in this strange house in another century, with all the proofs of Heaven given to ed to know I couldn’t escape fear Only a el had spoken toto knoas pain, because it was a longing for all tension and misery to end And they do not really ever end

“My master says for you to leave,” said Pico desperately “Here I have money for you from him He thanks you”

“I don’t need money”

He seelad of that and put away the purse

“But Master,” he said, “I beg you Do not go My nore Antonio’s house Fr Piero has demanded that he be locked up untilhim on account of the demon”

“I won’t abandon him,” I said

“Thank Heaven,” said Pico, and he started to weep “Thank Heaven” He said it over and over “If my master is tried for witchcraft the verdict will be certain He will die”

“I will do my best to see this never happens!”

I turned to go into the house

“No, Master, please, don’t go in The deo towards the stairs, he will know it and start again”