dele iniquitatem meam._"

Among the many who had come to look their last upon the Odalisque were
men who had made free with her poor name, had been unsparing in their
utterance of the truth concerning her and ready to drag her down, and
some of these moved away now shamefacedly, but more stayed, and one
after another took up the words.

"_Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea: et a peccato meo munda me._"

Gemma herself had trodden out the fire that consumed her, but who
could dare say of the grey cold ashes, "These are altogether vile."

"_Tibi soli peccavi, et malum coram te feci: ut justificeris in
sermonibus tuis et vincas cum judicaris._"

She had sinned, and she had been punished; she had suffered fear and
shame.

"_Asperges me hyssopo et mundabor, lavabis me, et super nivem
dealbabor._"

There had been some taint in her blood, some flaw in her will.

"_Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, et spiritum rectum innova in visceribus
meis._"

A dark-eyed slender boy, wearing the green and white and scarlet of
his _contrade_, pushed his way to the front presently. It was Romeo,
and he carried a great bunch of magnolia blossoms.

"Oh, signorina," he said, half crying, "the _alfieri_ and I wanted to
give you these because you brought us good luck so that we won the
Palio. I little thought--"

He stopped short, hesitating, and afraid to come nearer. He thought
she looked like one of the stone angels that kneel on the sculptured
tombs in the Campo Santo; her face seemed rough hewn in the harsh
white glare of the electric light, so deep were the shadows under her
eyes and the lines of pain about the praying lips. His heart ached
with pity for her.

"Give them to me," she said, and he was allowed to come into the space
that the _carabiniere_ kept clear.

He thrust the bunch hurriedly into her hands, faltering, "_Dio vi
benedica_."

"_Andatevi con Dio_," she replied, and then laid the pale flowers and
the shimmering green crown of leaves down upon the still breast.
"Gemma, if ever I hurt you, forgive me now!"

It was raining heavily, and as the sheet grew damp it clung more
closely to the body of the girl who lay there with arms outstretched
and knees drawn up as though she were nailed to a cross.

The boy still lingered. "You will be drenched. Go into the house," he
urged. Then, seeing he could not move her, he took off his velvet
embroidered cloak and put it about her shoulders. A woman in the crowd
came forward wi