you are doing the right
thing."

"Yes." Rachel was so choked with fear that she could only whisper the
word.

"Well, I can tell you there are thousands of women who would give
anything to be in your place."

"In my place? To become a putana?"

Tilia laughed. "You think most women are contentedly married, with
husbands to take care of them, with children who love them and neighbors
who respect them--while only a few like me and the women who work for me
are putane, whom the rest look down on. Well, listen to me, little one,
other women _envy_ us. A married woman sells herself, body and soul, to
be some man's slave for life. And she gets damned little in return. We
rent out this little part of our anatomy"--she patted her lap--"for a
moment, and we keep the profit for ourselves. If we are clever, as I
have been, we learn how to keep and increase our money. So when we no
longer have youth and beauty to sell, we can take care of ourselves. And
I tell you that a woman in her later years is likely to be a better
friend to herself than any husband."

_She speaks with conviction. But I cannot trust her, either. I have not
had a true friend in this world since Angelo was killed._

Rachel sighed. "It is just that after tonight there is no turning back.
This is for the rest of my life."

"That is right," said Tilia. "You will give up something that you can
lose only once. When you have a commodity as unique as that, my child,
you owe it to yourself to get the most you can for it." Her eyes
hardened. "Every man wants to be the first to pierce a woman and hear
her cry out and make her bleed. But what woman gets anything worth
having in return? She gives it away on a dark night to some furfante
with a smooth tongue and a handsome leg, or else the tonto she married
takes it from her and then tells her to go wash the bed linen." She
turned to stare at Rachel. "Do you know what I got for my virginity?"
Her cheeks were red with anger.

"What did you get, Signora?" The heat with which Tilia spoke reassured
Rachel. This was what the woman really felt. She was not just talking to
lead Rachel astray.

"Blows and slavery." Tilia thrust her face close to Rachel's to
underline her words. "Blows and slavery. The Genoese, may leprosy devour
their limbs and may their prickles fall off in their hands, raided
Otranto. They raped me--that was how I lost _my_ virginity. They sold me
to the Turks."

"You were a slave to the Turks?" Rache