"SOCIAL CHATTER" "This is for you." "WouIdn't you Iike something, Francois?" "darling, is something wrong?" "It's the music." "Maybe we should get a little closer." "plays so gorgeously." " Thank you." " Goodnight." " I'II see you in America." " Don't worry, I won't forget." " So glad to see you." " Goodnight." "Goodbye and thank you very much." " wonderful." " glad you enjoyed it." "I'm dead." " Oh Lord!" "So am I." " Was it worth it?" "Can't stand on my feet." "will you hurry and straighten up." "We're leaving first thing in the morning." "I think it went very well." "Everyone seemed to enjoy it." "Don't you think so?" "Yes." "What a mob we had." "It was fun, though." "Did you enjoy it yourself?" "would you Iike a scotch?" " Just a little one." " Take a sip of mine." "Grazie." " Goodnight." " Goodnight." " Thank you for everything." "I'm so sleepy." "Fosca, hold on." "Can we be at the house in about half an hour?" "Oh, less than that." "I hope so." "Fosca, we'II see you in 30 minutes or maybe less." "Yeah." "You speak to me as though I was still a child." "Yeah." "Ah..." "I'm sure." "Anyway don't worry, we'II be there." "She says everything's in order and there're two telegrams." "Oh." "From you brother?" "Uh uh." "Gianni phoned from London to ask Fosca when we're arriving." "They must be from our relatives in florence." " Thank you." " Grazie." " Grazie." " Arrivederci." "So out of the whole family you'II meet my old maid and my father's relatives." "I hardly know them." "You can still see the old terracing." "Here we are." "That's the San Francesco Gate." "VoIterra." "You see, there's Cecina and the sea." "There." "The old Etruscan walls." "We're here!" "Fosca!" "Signorina!" "Signora, I'm coming down." "How are you Fosca?" "You're looking well." " Thank you signora." " Is everything all right?" "Everything's all right in the house." " But the garden still not in order." " I'II see about it later." "Go and meet my husband, Andrew Dawdson." " Buonasera." " Buonasera." "Magnificent!" "Excuse me." "will you give these to the signora?" "certainly." "But first I'II go and get the baggage." " May I help you, signore?" " No, don't bother." "I'II only bring up what we need for the next couple of days." "I'II put the car in the garage." "Are you leaving so soon?" "couple of days." "Just like signorino Gianni." "He comes and goes like the wind too." "Here one day gone the next." "I wish he would stay longer." "You say the signora's brother comes here once in a while?" "Signorino Gianni?" "Of course." "Signora Sandra, she hasn't been here lately, but we've seen signorino Gianni often, specially in the Iast year or two." "Last year he stayed much longer." "He was with us all through Easter time." "You're mistaken." "Last Easter Gianni was sick, in London." "We wanted him to come to our wedding." "Remember we telephoned?" "That's right." "'Course I do." "I even spoke to him myself." "I know that at Easter time he was here." "He arrived on Good Friday and he stayed the whole month of april." "I know he was right here when they took the Mistress to PaIagione." "And was he here other times before that?" "Before and after, signora." "I was just telling that to your husband." "He comes quite often." "Didn't you know that?" "No..." "No, I didn't know." "I wasn't told." "Sandra, this place is really a palace." "I wasn't expecting it." "Makes me feel like I was in a museum." "Oh, excuse me, I forgot." "If you tell me what vaIise you want, I'II get it." "You'II want your negligee." "What about my stepfather, signor GiIardini?" "Your stepfather?" "He sent you those flowers." "Didn't you notice them?" "He said he didn't want to disturb you when you just arrived." "Tomorrow he'II see you at the municipal hall and then he'II tell you all the news of the signora." "I visited her often at the clinic." "She's better off now that she's living at the villa." "The poor thing." "He doesn't want me to see her." "He believes I make her sad." "He says I remind her of the old days, not good for her." "The doctors objected, you know." "They've been so careful." "She's treated very well." "Oh, your friend Doctor Fornari, he's the assistant to Professor Zanutti, he must sees every day." "He's wonderful." "He explained it to me, signora." "Your mother was too isolated at the clinic." "You have no reason to worry." "Very well." "Thank you, Fosca." "I have the dining room set up, signora." "would you Iike me to sleep in tonight, in case the people from florence come?" "No." "No one is coming from florence." " darling look at me." " What do you want?" "Come on." "smile!" "AII right." "Stop it now." "Come here and sit down." "Come on!" "Come on, that's enough." "That's better." "You'II laugh Sandra." "I got lost again trying to find you." "This is the strangest house." "Somehow it's like you, in a way." "Oh, no!" "Stop it." "No..." "AII right, darling." "I'm not sure you meant that as a compliment." "Sure I did." "AII right then." "Why can't we stay here forever?" "Why not?" "Forever." "AII right." "It's a good idea." "Now you're worried." "Poor Andrew!" "I thought you said that was a compliment." " well, I did." " Don't make excuses now." "Better to be quiet." "well anyway, I made you laugh." "I'm sorry darling." "Excuse me." "I don't understand those two telegrams." "I don't understand anything." "I shouldn't talk about it." "Why don't we take a walk in the garden?" "We ought to see what they've been doing." "It needed so much work." "I don't know what we'II be able to see, it's so dark out." "We'II turn on the hall lights." "We'II be able to see enough." " I'II put on a shawl." " Yes, all right." "No, you can't go that way." "That one's been closed off for years." "Why?" "It's my mother's apartment." "It's been closed since she became ill." "I see." "Andrew, maybe..." "we could visit her tomorrow." "I'd Iike to." "Come, Iet's go out." "Sandra, I think I saw someone." "I'm sorry to disillusion you but there are no ghosts here." "Sandra." "Gianni!" "When did you get here?" "Gianni, did Fosca know you were coming?" "Fosca's my accomplice." "You know they're not coming." " Who's not coming?" " Father's family." "Papa's brother." "There were two telegrams when we got here with their excuses." "They're senile." "They won't travel anymore." "They're through with us." "They don't want to see us again." "It's mother's fault." "Can you blame them?" "I'm Gianni, your brother-in-Iaw." "So I imagined." "We're delighted to have you here with us." "So he's here, uh?" "Is that the bust of your father?" "Excuse me, I'd Iike to see what the inscription says." "If you don't mind I'd better go and change my clothes now." "Gianni, we've come to the house to do our duty before it's too late to make some order out of things." "I know that's what you came for." "But I'd better give you my part of the picture right away." "Here you are." " I don't understand." " Just look." " What are these papers?" " Read them." "I suppose Fosca's told you that every once in a while" "I descend upon the house like a falcon." "Yes, Fosca told me." "And I was very surprised I didn't know that before." "Your husband, he'II think we're deserting him." " What's his name?" " Andrew." " Andrew?" " Here I am." "Nice fellow, your husband." "I was just telling Sandra you're a nice fellow." "Thanks, but isn't it a little too soon to judge?" "We've just met." "They're usually correct, one's first impressions." " Yes." "Has Sandra been a good wife?" " Sure." "Before she left here she couldn't do anything." "Disorganized." "Lazy." "That's true." "Disorganized, lazy, that's how's Sandra." "Strange." "I thought marriage would change her." "I hope Sandra made these things clear before you were married." "Oh, she told me everything." " I mean, she told you all?" " please, Gianni." "explain this." "I don't understand." "They're the receipts for the things I sold." "I've always needed money, all through the years." "You know, with the little I earn and the pittance I get from GiIardini it's hard to get along." "I don't know whether Sandra told you." "I've chosen a difficult career." "Very ambitious." "I couId easily fall." "Yes." "Sandra's told me." "You're a versatile fellow." "She means I'm a good-for-nothing." "It's true." "I used to be like that." "It began as a hobby, nothing much really." "I wanted to justify myself so I began writing for newspapers." "trivial society gossip." "I got around, but nothing serious." "Then I made an interesting discovery." "I was a born writer." "So I began to write a book." "My editor thinks it's pretty good." " What's it about?" " It's hard to describe." "Oh, it's memories." "It's the story of my adolescent years." "Are you serious?" "There, you see?" "She's never had any faith in her brother." "When I'm rich and famous, then you'II believe me." "But unfortunately that day is still far off." "So when I'm broke I come back here, and take things to sell or pawn." "You haven't had time to notice that the silver's missing." "And a painting that's supposed to be a RaffaeIIo." "Oh, Gianni!" "You're shocked are you?" "This is all Sandra's and mine." "But I couldn't dispose of my share until I became of age." "I shouldn't have done it withoutpermission from Sandra's and my guardian, but I did it anyway." "What a nerve, eh?" "But I shall repay you all, Sandra." "With interest if you Iike." "If you ask me, you were right." "perfectly right." "What about GiIardini?" "Does he know?" "But of course." "And he thinks you know." "But why didn't you say anything to me in your letters?" "I didn't want you to worry about it." "tell me the truth, Andrew, do you think I should live like a pauper?" "Every two months to have to come to this rich, elegant place to dig up a little money to live?" "The time has come to make a decision." "Tomorrow our gardens will be dedicated as a public park in memory of our father." "Someone will enjoy this place, at Ieast." "But how about the house?" "Just watch and wait?" "until it faIIs away?" "Another donation?" "We couldn't afford the park." "A museum will buy the antiques and I'm sure we can rent the house, if the idea of selling it upsets you." "Do you have something in mind, Gianni?" "well, yes." "But I won't make any major decisions without your consent, you know." "I don't want to be bothered with it." " Sandra." " Don't go away Sandra." "I'm sorry." "If I said or done anything to annoy you, forgive me." "please forgive me." "First of all I don't like you undressing in front of me that way." "Where do you think you are, in a bathroom?" "Quite right, signora." "A thousand apologies." "I'II finish dressing and be right with you." "One minute." "Lady of the house, aren't you going to offer us something to drink?" "I don't think there's any liquor in the house." "naturally." "Just like Fosca not to think of it." "Then let's go into town." "We'II stop for a drink at the bar." " Have you been there yet?" " No." "I haven't been anywhere." "She wants to keep you shut up in a cage, ah?" "You'd better put your foot down." "Don't be stupid, Gianni!" " You two go out." " Why?" "It's so late." "I don't want to go out." "I'm so tired." "well, then why can't we all stay home?" "No, go darling." "I'II go to bed." "That's wonderful." "I haven't seen you in months, we've so much to talk about." "A thousand things." "But you want to retire." "That's right." "A thousand things we'II keep until the morning, when we'II all be rested and calm." "while you're at the bar will you please order some liquor for the house?" "And try not to make too much noise when you come in." "I'm afraid I'II wake you." "No darling, you won't wake me." "I'II sleep in my old room." "I don't think I can sleep in the guest room." "For hundreds of years landslides have been swallowing this old town." "Houses, churches, ancient walls, even the Etruscan cemeteries." "AII kinds of experts have been called in, but no one's been able to do anything about it." "There, you see?" "That's San Giusto." "VoIterra is the only town I know that's condemned to die of disease." "Like most human beings." "No, be careful." "landslides happen even down here." "Look over there." "That's the old abbey." "The monks had to leave because they were in constant danger of being buried alive." "This is the church of San Giusto." "Sixteenth century at its best." "beautiful, isn't it?" "Let's sit down a minute." "Town's fascinating." "You're a wonderful guide, but I can't seem to concentrate." "You know, I'm very much in love with your sister." "I'm happy to hear it." "Good." "naturally she's spoken to me about you and your family." "But for me Sandra was born the day I met her in Geneva." "She had a job as interpreter at the place where I worked." "Was she capable?" "Yeah, she was good, nothing special." "But the enormous courage she showed when we were investigating the camp at Auschwitz talking to survivors." "There weren't many, but a few were present at about the same time your father was." "Before we started the investigations" "I thought I knew everything about your sister." "There was a man there, a complete stranger to me, and to your sister too." "I was amazed at her questions." "There was an undercurrent I couldn't catch." "She was trying to recapture something, I don't know what." "You ever been in love?" "It happens to everyone." "Then you know how great is a man's curiosity can be about the woman he loves." "He wants to know every detail of her life." "Yes, but that curiosity is bound to wane." "You love a woman not for what she was or will be but for what she is." "I used to think that way too, but now I don't want Sandra and me to have any secrets from each other." "I do wish you'd tell me something about your sister." "About her life here." "You mean you'd Iike a description of her lovers." "Or her first pangs of passion." "I wouldn't dream of asking about that." "AII right then." "What do you want to know?" "well, I'm not sure myself." "I mean, the kind of Iife your family lived here." "Don't forget I'm a foreigner." "A town like this is so different from any provincial town in my country." "only superficially." "Life in a provincial town is the same all over the world." "The same sense of desperation." "You think it's impossible that you felt that way when you're not here." "only, it closes in on you again the moment you come back." "Maybe even after 100 years." " What would you Iike?" " A beer." "Buonasera signorino!" "How are you?" "welcome home." " Thank you." "How are you?" " Not bad." "Is it true that signorina Sandra is back too?" "It's true." "This is her husband,Andrew Dawdson." "A pleasure." "pleased to meet you." "Marianna, give us two beers and send a few bottles of whiskey up to the house." "Right away." "Andrew, I have a surprise for you." "Your wife's first lover is here." "No, better not." "His father was a broker, we were children together." "Sandra was ambitious for him." "She made him work." "Now he's a doctor." "An important one, assistant to doctor Zanutti." " would you Iike to meet him?" " Why not?" " You mean it?" " Sure." " Gianni!" "How are you?" " You look wonderful." " Can you spare a minute to meet someone?" " Of course." " Come on." "I'd Iike you to meet Andrew Dawdson, Sandra's husband." " Buonasera." " How do you do?" "He's the most fortunate of them all, he wed my sister." "I'd Iike to see her." "How is she?" " I go this way, don't I?" " Yes, that's right." "Never mind, I'II lock up." "This place is so enormous I'II never get used to it." "I know, it's big but it's home." "You go on, I want to check the doors." " Can I help you?" " No, never mind." "It'II take me a minute." " well, I'II see you in the morning." " Yes." "We'II meet at the municipal hall at 10." "Do you know where your room is?" " I think I can find it." "Goodnight." " Goodnight." "Pietro, I was afraid to see her without you." " You look marvellous." " Do do you." "Even more beautiful." "Grazie." "Mama." "Ma." "Tomorrow is my father's birthday." "Your honour, the wedding party is becoming impatient." "They've been waiting since 10." "CouIdn't you perform the ceremony?" "The signora is so late." "Take them first." "Do you mind?" "It'II only take a few minutes." "Here she is." "A fine way to honour your father's birthday." "An hour and a half late." "Your honour, this is my sister." " Buongiorno." " Buongiorno." " Do you know signor Notorianni?" " Yes, I believe we met." "There is the form, signora Dawdson." "will you be good enough to read it?" "Signor GiIardini has already seen it." " Yes, it seems in order." " Why not?" "With all your clever lawyers." "How can any ignorant layman object?" "will you kindly excuse me?" "Why don't you leave me alone?" "What do you want?" "You only want to humiliate me!" "You haven't seen me in four years now." "Now you're sIithering, Iike a serpent." "You think you can take advantage because I'm sick?" "I'II tell Antonio that you came here deliberately to insult me." "He'II punish you!" "If you wish we can proceed to the signing of the documents." "We are deeply indebted to you." "What a memorial to your father!" "Your garden will make the loveliest park in italy." "Your father was a great scientist but he was also humanitarian and I know he would be proud of what you've done for the town of volterra." "Perhaps this gift of yours will be some compensation for his dreadful, senseless death." "You are frightened, aren't you?" "Your father, you don't want to know the truth about that man." "Why do you wear that star of David?" "Because you are a Jew, Iike him." "Just as corrupt!" "filthy!" "filthy!" "Diseased!" "Stinking!" "full of secret vices!" "My brother and I believed in him." "We don't believe in testimonials, but he died by violence and he wanted to live in peace." "Let everyone breathe the air he was once allowed." "I think everything is in order now, your honour." " Did you see mother?" " Where it's marked, signora." "I guess that's it, your honour." "So the dedication will be tomorrow at 10 o'cIock." "I am not a very good speaker, I beg your pardon in advance." "I'II try to do my best, signora." "Grazie." " till tomorrow then." " Good to see you." " Buongiorno." " Arrivederci, signor Notorianni." " Buongiorno." "Ah, wonderful Pietro!" "You're just the one I was looking for!" "I'm not going to waste time." "May I ask what got into your stupid head doctor?" "What is it?" "You know you have to ask permission before you visit my wife!" "Signor GiIardini..." "What did you come here for?" "Ask mercy for yourself, is that it?" "I asked the doctor to come with me." "Yes, I hear you want to create some kind of scandal." "Your mama isn't well enough." "You're saying everywhere that I had her removed from the clinic for my own personal benefit." "I'm not supposed to be thinking of her good, am I Sandra?" "Nobody ever said anything like that." "Of course, you can ask Sandra." "Do you think I want a scandal?" "There's a point when one has to talk." "I think we'd better have things out." "Yes." "It's time we did, no?" "I should like to very much." "Perhaps we can do it some other time, in a better place." "More calmly." "Gianni's quite right." "We'II speak about this calmly, but in another time and place." "Let's try not to lose our temper." "We won't talk rashIy, we might very well regret it later." "Let's go." "We were so young." "We didn't understand what happened." "Maybe subconsciously." "But now I know for sure." "It was they who denounced my father, yes." "My mother and GiIardini." "I know it." "Because when the report came through that my father had been murdered my mother wouldn't talk to GiIardini." "To forget she gave us any money that was available." "I wonder if she even hesitated with the nazi." " Then she married GiIardini." " Yes, later." "Later." "Much later." "GiIardini knew how to wait." "He knew very well in spite of all her lovers, her disappearances, her reappearances, her frenzy and her guilt, that she'd finally give in to him." "And that's just what happened." "My mother became ill." "And then he married her." "GiIardini decided to be the master." "He decided it was necessary to make order in the family." "He worried about our education." "Now, nor mother nor father believed in school." "We always had a governess who taught us at home." "GiIardini decided to send Gianni to boarding school in florence, and I went to school at the convent." "He wanted us both out of the house." "He thought we were too critical." "well, that's quite understandable." "Gianni wrote a letter right away to mama, he said he'd prefer to be dead that to be evicted so cruelly." "He went and took some VeronaI." "Suicide." "A bluff." "I helped him." "Encouraged it too." "Is it normal for children to play such desperate games?" "To need revenge so badly?" "But the atmosphere we grew up in wasn't normal." "But imagine GiIardini blown into a scandal, throwing it into Gianni's face." "For years he talked to Gianni." "You don't speak to a criminal like that." "Anyway though, Gianni came home." "Mama brought Gianni back and he went to school in town." "I was so happy." "Maybe it was bad, perverse, only we began not to speak in GiIardini's presence." "Then he may believe that we didn't see each other." "We invented a kind of game." "We had such fun with it." "We communicated secretly." "We wrote messages to one another." "We hid our notes all over, all kinds of nooks." " shall I show you where, for instance?" " If you Iike." "Come." "A place like this, where no one ever looks." "We might hide one in there." "A vase, you know?" "That was rather a morbid game, wasn't it?" "Why morbid?" "Not at all." " Where're you going?" " Come along." "Sometimes we stuck one in here." "You see?" "Come." "In mother's room." "This cupid, inside its clock." " What did you find?" " A note." ""Important." "Urgent." "I, your faithful slave, will await you at the water tower." "Make sure no one follows you."" "It can't be so important or urgent since it's waited all these years." " AII these years?" " What?" " Andrew, what are you thinking?" " I'm not thinking anything." "Do you know who that was that I was supposed to see at the water tower?" "It was Pietro." "Our agent's son." "We were so in love and Gianni protected us." "We couldn't be open about it, the family would have disapproved." " They thought he was too lowly." " Yes, Gianni spoke to me." "What else did he say?" "He told me that the sordidness of provincial life seems impossible when you've been away from it for a while." "Like, you come back, even if years and years have passed, you're thrown right back into it." "My darling, I don't want that to happen to you Sandra." "You know, that was all so long ago." "No matter what your mother may have done, look at her condition now." "Besides, who knows whether your theory is right." "What you've told me proves absolutely nothing." "Of course you and Gianni were hostile towards GiIardini." "It's what every child feels towards a stepfather or a stepmother." "It's a natural reaction." "Sandra, I want to get you away from this place as soon as possible." "You're jealous of the phantoms in this house." "Yes, I'm jealous of everything." "Something is frightening me." "As though there was something between us." "I'm afraid." "But I Iove you, you know that." "I Iove you." "I Iove you." "Fosca, the signora is resting." "Don't disturb her." " I'm going out for a while." " Very good, signore." "Gianni?" "Gianni?" "Gianni, where are you?" "Sandra, why are you so late?" "Are you sure nobody noticed you coming over here?" "I'm sure." "But I warn you, Gianni, Andrew found the note." "Never mind." "Why did you ask me here?" "Because I wanted to prove something." "I wanted you to prove it." "You have something to say?" "So many things." "I thought we'd talk last night, but you were locked in your room." " Ah, it was you then?" " Yes." "You locked your door to defend yourself from Andrew?" "?" "Poor fellow." "Is that how you treat him?" "I thought you loved him." "I do, Gianni." "I do love him." "Let's go back to the house." "We can talk there." " This is our house." " It was." "Not anymore." "What do you want?" "Let me borrow it." "Just for today." "No." "Stop it, Gianni." "Stop it!" "fool." "You fool..." "You're mad." "You're mad!" " Give it back." "Right now!" " No." "Just until tonight." "please!" "This is ridiculous." "You have no conscience." "You even left me to see mama alone." "Two monsters." "Two monsters." "My two children." "Yes." "My children." "I tell you Gianni was always hiding right behind the door." "You may not believe me, everybody knows that my son and daughter are monsters!" " My enemies!" " please don't tell me about it." "I might hate you." "Don't, please." "Do you remember the first time we came down here?" "The wind closed the door behind us." "You were so scared you began to cry because you thought no one would ever come to let us out." "That was when you still cared about me." "But I still do, Sandra." "I swear." " Look in mother's room." " What's there?" "It's my book." "Read it." "Then you'II understand." "Don't you believe me?" "Read it, Sandra, and you'II understand." "You'II know why I don't want to know about your visit to mother." "Let's call it a closed chapter." "You see Sandra, I think I'm finally free of some things." "Forever." "I'm sorry to have worried you, signor Dawdson." "I'm sure you have enough on your mind." "But you seem a person of intelligence, a gentleman." "I was anxious to talk to you because I wanted to ask a favour of you." "I would Iike you to take charge of the administration of my stepchildren's business affairs." "Their inheritance, that is." "I told him I don't want to bebothered with it any longer." "I'm sick of it." "I'II send you over the documents." "I don't want to see them ever again." "You can carry them." "Signor GiIardini," "I understand you bringing another lawyer over to the house today, but wouldn't it be better if you spoke to Gianni and Sandra yourself?" "No!" "I'II never set foot in that house again!" "You have no idea what I've gone through." "For those children and for their mother." "Mr Dawdson, if it hadn't been for me, their inheritance would have gone into smoke." "As it is it's safe and sound." "And as for that sick lady," "I'm sure you can imagine just what would have become of her if I hadn't been there and if it weren't for me." "And I mean to take care of her all her life." "God's will that is." "I. And my income isn't great." "I don't need anyone." "I think you really must talk to Sandra and Gianni." "Too many misunderstandings, they should be cleared up." "Misunderstandings?" "You call them misunderstandings?" "You think it's a joke!" "SIandering me." "I'm supposed to disregard their insinuations?" "I beg you." "Signor GiIardini, I beg you." "It's their upbringing, their terrible education." "Oh, I know it." "And I blame myself." "I do what is right, I shouldn't have given in." "I know what you're thinking now." "Sandra told me about it." " She did, did she?" " Sure." "well, about Gianni's difficult boyhood, the fake suicide to win over his mother." "The anxiety caused." "These things often happen at that age you know?" "Not that often." "Oh, they do." "Sandra also told me about her affair with the son of your agent, doctor Fornari." "AII water under the bridge now." "Poor doctor Fornari, signor Dawdson." "Doctor Fornari not only loved Sandra, he worshipped her." "And it's quite understandable." "I mean, it's not surprising." "When Sandra was 16 she was as beautiful as she is today." "And besides she was much higher on the social scale." " So of course I can understand him." " I understand too." "I can understand how Sandra's mother opposed any relationship between them." "small town gossip." "Same old story." "That wasn't the real trouble." "There was something else that ravaged my wife's family" "A sinister thing." "What?" "Can you tell me?" "well then?" "Nothing to say?" "Is what I've written so awful?" "It seems to me not so bad." "Not bad at all." " Who else has seen this ugly thing?" " My editor, of course." " Wait until it's published." " It won't be published." "But why not?" "You're not taking it personally, by any chance?" "It's imaginary." "It's pure fiction." "I wanted to write a novel." "No one who reads it will think it's only fantasy." "It doesn't matter." "A few laughs from town." "Then I'II be damned if I worry about them." "According to you we should hide ourselves in shame." "For a sin we never committed." "You're a petty bourgeois, Sandra." "But I'm not." "What people think isn't my business." "They want something to gossip about?" "AII right." "They can have their scandal." "Can you imagine their faces when they read this?" ""My desire grew and grew, Iike a burgeoning flower." "Without thinking I threw myself upon my sister." "We embraced each other like enemies." "In a violent and futile quest for satisfaction."" "That's writing, no?" "Stop it." "I'm sick of you." "What do you want?" "How much more do you want to destroy?" "More?" "What have you left me?" "Now you want me to give up success and money too." "If all my readers react as strongly as you" "I think my novel should be very successful." "A classic." "AII right." "How much do you want?" "I only want to ask you one thing." "Why don't you want it published?" "Because your book could be a weapon in the hands of our enemies." "Is that the only reason?" "And what's happening now?" "Why have you been avoiding me these last years?" "I might ask you the same thing." "You didn't manage to come to my wedding either." "You came here instead." "I was so bewildered." "I don't know what went on the day of your wedding." "I became ill." "Some kind of convulsion." "Romantic." "A Byronic hero." "I had this happen when I was a child." "That I walked these long halls endlessly, so frightened and so lonely." "And yet I came back." "It's been so long since I saw you, Sandra." "I've managed somehow to forget you." "I told myself I wouldn't think of you." "I'd see the world." "I'd fall in love." "And I did." "So many times that it's not important." "A new life." "Everything changed." "No more of the past, ever, ever again." "So that's the way it was." "No past, no you." "beautiful women." "travel." "Emptiness." "until you wrote you were getting married." "And all at once everything came back." "Our talks together." "Our silences." "My anguished loneliness." "The walks we took on the terrace." "The sleepless nights." "And most of all, how happy I was with you." "A feeling from the depths of my childhood." "Because you were afraid too, of loneliness, darkness, the sound of a particular voice." "Was this passion?" "What does a child know about passion?" "It's a grown-up emotion isn't it?" "I'm grown up and I'm still bewildered." "help me Sandra." "only you can understand me." "We have the same memories." "We had the same innocence." "We hear the same music." "AII right, I wasn't writing a fairy story, a fable." "Perhaps it was a dream that you'd always be there close by." "But I'm an adult." "Why must the dream go on and on, haunting me?" "I can't help you." "Stay with me." "You can't, you mustn't leave me." "I can't stay with you, Gianni." "You know, Gianni, I was looking through mama's papers and I found a letter you wrote when you were a child." "You were only 9 or so." "Mama had gone off on one of her concert tours." "She was in Austria." "You wrote "Dearest mama, so glad that you managed to get to Vienna." "Sandra and I have been good." "We've already done our exercises." "I'd better admit one thing to you." "I broke the new toy." "The little boat you gave me." "I don't want you to be angry." "I've been so busy gardening"." "When she got back here again shebrought such wonderful things," "didn't she?" "Andrew." "Andrew?" "Ah, Sandra." "I hope you don't mind I've asked GiIardini and doctor Fornari to have dinner with us tonight." "At eight." "Try to be pleasant, will you?" "Your husband was quite right to ask GiIardini." "We have to try and make things better, not worse." "Sandra, be pleasant for once, will you?" "It'II be a relief for everybody." "The light isn't awfully good here, is it?" "It's the best I can do." "Sandra, do you want a drink?" "It's better than fluorescent lighting anyway." "I can't stand fluorescent light." "Does everyone in America use it?" "In offices and bars, yes." "But not in more elegant places." "marvellous." "Did you know that light, according to its intensity, and therefore its heat, can affect humans clinically." "I bet you didn't know something, it's interesting, red is an aphrodisiac." "No, I hadn't heard." "Sandra I'm sorry." "I can't stay for dinner." "I just stopped by to make my apologies." "I'm on duty at the hospital tonight." "No, wait a minute." "You must eat first." "Why don't you insist Sandra?" "You can't say no to Sandra." "unfortunately I have to say no, even to her." "It's the end of the world." "He doesn't love you anymore." "You should protest." "I'm sorry Sandra." "You know I'd stay if I couId." "It doesn't matter, Pietro." "I understand." "Buonasera." "How are you, signore?" "Buonasera." " darling, what's wrong?" " Nothing." "It's my fault." "She's so angry at me." "She thinks I'm the worst author alive." "I was wrong to show her my book." "But you know, some people think it's good." "And tonight I'm really happy." "I finally found a single thing I missed." "The title." "Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa." "It's Leopardi." "You must know it." " The beautiful stars of the Great Bear." " No." "But naturally." "Why should you know it?" "Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa." "At night I used to creep into the garden and count the stars of the Great Bear." "I watched them shining over the trees from the window." "Why did I return to this unhappy, sick place of my childhood?" "To grope through its shadows, to fall under the spell of its constellation again." " Signor GiIardini." " Ask him to come in." " Si, signora." " Ciao, buonasera." " Buonasera signor GiIardini." " Buonasera signor Dawdson." " please." "I'II tell you my dear, I was so angry with you, Sandra, that I swore I would never enter this house again as long as I lived." "Now, you see?" "I'm being frank with you." "But your husband was so understanding." "I had a talk with him, you know." "So generous." "He insisted that I come." "well, I'm here with my hand out." "Let's try to be on good terms for the sake of everyone." " Ciao Gianni." " Ciao." "Signor GiIardini, won't you come inside and have a drink?" "Of course, with pleasure." "I'm sorry Sandra." "I really must go." "It's getting late." "You're a funny fellow, Pietro." "You'II never change." " Let him go if he wants to." " See?" "She defends you." "Just like when we were children." "I wish you'd manage to stay doctor, and tell Sandra your opinion." "Sandra, as I told you I had a Iong talk today with signor..." " GiIardini" " Excuse me, signor GiIardini." " A momentary lapse." "Water?" " Yes, if you please." "Everybody feels that your mother should go back to the clinic, that she might do better there than at the villa." "I know Pietro wants her to go back there." "He told me his opinion this morning." "And you think I talked him into it, don't you?" "Excuse me signor GiIardini, but I'd rather speak for myself." "Yes, I told you I think the clinic is better for her." "Signor GiIardini had nothing to do with it." "It's true, she has more luxuries at home, but I want to try some new methods." "I need the staff at the clinic to help me." "She seemed to come to life this morning after you visited her." "I saw a glimmer of hope." "I think I can do what I want to do more easily in an impersonal atmosphere." "That doesn't mean we want to isolate her, Sandra." "It's for her good." "Yes." "One thing your mother has been insisting to the nurse and to me, with a clarity we haven't heard before, that tomorrow, whether we like it or not, she's going to the ceremony." "So she understands what is happening." "She seems to remember." "until now she forgot everything she was told, in a few minutes." " Isn't that right, doctor?" " That's right." "You don't really mean to tell me you're bringing mother to the ceremony?" "What do you expect to gain?" "I know you." "To make sure she won't bIurt out the truth you'II pap her full of sedatives." "What do you mean Sandra?" "What are you hinting at?" " exactly what I said." " please Sandra!" "We are here together because we want to come to some agreement." "Not to start quarrelling all over again." "Do you think that's what she wants?" "You heard her, didn't you?" "I know her quite well." "Oh, it's not so hard to figure out what's going on under that hostile look, that merciless face of hers." "I don't think she wants some agreement." " Let's speak clearly." " Yes, clearly." "That's right." "But if anyone tries to be open with you, to discuss things, you just evade it." "Your eyes become like steel." "You're unreasonable, and you're aggressive!" "Signor GiIardini..." "And what is this truth you think you mother might expose?" "I know only one truth." "only one!" "That's the one you want to conceal." "That's the truth, Sandra!" "I wonder whether you know what you're doing." "Now I see the kind of game you're playing!" " please, calm down." "Yes, you made accusations against your mother and me, your stepfather." "We committed a horrible crime." "Of course." "To make yourself look pure and innocent." "To hide the filth that we tried to cover up for years." "We tried, the way cats put paiIs of sand over their own excrements!" "Oh no!" "To hell with you and your perverseness." "Signor GiIardini!" "please!" "I beg you." "Wait a minute." "Listen." "You said you'd speak frankly." "You must tell me what you meant." " I can't let you leave until I know what you meant." " Yes!" "Yes, tell him everything." "Go ahead." "Do you think I care?" "I've no one to count on." "Nobody." "Nobody cares." "My brother." "Not even you." "Yes, not even your brother." "Did you expect help there?" "How foolish." "But did you tell Gianni that it was I alone who got you out of trouble time and time again." "If he wants proof I'II happily supply it to him." "I couId put your knight errant in jail with what I know, and don't think I won't do it, the point to which we've come." "If he does is whine about his life, threaten to commit suicide, blame everything on his moral heredity, and his immoral, incestuous love." "I wouldn't call it a joking matter." " What do you want?" " Look at me." "Why don't you answer him?" " Because there's nothing to say." " You have to say something." "Don't you want to defend yourself?" " please..." " Why can't you say anything?" "You swine!" "No!" "Andrew don't!" "Stop it!" "No!" "No!" "That's enough!" "Leave me alone!" "Leave me alone!" "Stop!" "Stop!" "Andrew, leave him alone!" "Don't hurt him!" "please, don't hurt him!" "please leave him alone." "That's enough!" "You've punished him enough." "Enough." "That's enough!" "You believed that?" "Is that how you trust me, your wedding vow?" "Are you implying I didn't believe to the wedding vow of the girl that I married?" "I would give anything, everything to be able to go on believing." "But don't you see?" "I'm ashamed to rummage around in your past." "I'm afraid of your ghosts, Sandra." "I'm afraid." "You mean I'm a ghost too, Andrew." "Is that right?" "I don't want to say anything more, Sandra." "Let it be." "I can't let it be, Andrew." "There are a few things I must tell you that I hope you'II understand." "Gianni and I separated a few years ago, and I found myself alone." "alone in the world." "I was so desperate." "And yet when he wrote to me asking me, begging me to join him again," "I refused." "I couldn't." "AII the lies, the gossip, the slander." "I thought that doom had actually befallen us." "It didn't matter we'd done nothing, nothing to reproach ourselves for, but who would believe in our loyalty?" "Who would believe that our loyalty was to him?" "We were united in a single passion." "The memory of a man, our father." "Sandra, the past can't help us." "Let go of it." "Oh, darling, darling, darling!" "We must go away, now!" "No." "Do you really expect that we can go on living together?" "After this is there really anything more to say?" " Go Andrew." " No." "What's the use my darling, if you don't even want to talk about it." "I'm so tired." "The same old story." "I know you love me and I know how hard it is for you to trust me." "How you'II try to forget your fear and panic." "You think it might be true what they say in volterra." "No, it's impossible, Andrew." "No." "You mustn't stay." "You don't." "I belong here." "I shall do my penance." "I know I won't forget, nor forgiveness, because I won't forgive." "Sandra." "Andrew's left, Gianni." "A magnificent exit." "You see?" "No one helps you when you need help, Sandra." "Exit scene." "La commedia e finita." "Poor Sandra!" "What're you going to do now?" "Run after him?" "Throw out a drag net and put him on a leash?" "Listen to me, Sandra." "We'II stay here together, the two of us." "As though these last years had never been." "Stay with me a few days and then decide." " Aren't you ashamed?" " Why?" "should I be ashamed because I have the courage to admit what you don't dare to think?" "Admit it!" "tell the truth, to yourself at Ieast!" "What?" "Are you suddenly afraid of God?" "Let me alone, Gianni!" "Let me alone!" "Why can't you be honest for once?" "Did God tell you to become a nun?" "Did he tell you to get married and that would satisfy you?" "Did he tell you that nuns are sick with desire and frustration?" "That they are willing to mortify their flesh." "Oh, I wish you'd done that to yourself." "Why should you feel so full of guilt, so wretched and alone?" "Why should we be denied any joy?" "And don't turn on those who won't share your guilt." "That will make you more wretched and alone." "Any psychologist can tell you what you did." "You were terrified to see me but you needed so desperately to identify with me to keep hold of your past." "So you went to the concentration camps, to reconstruct father's calvary." "You hid your love for me under a mask of seIf-sacrifice." "You persecuted a poor sick woman." "You badgered an inaffective, helpless man because of me." "You even sent your husband away, and he loves you the way I do." "You may think I'm cynical, corrupt, but I'm honest." "And I'm still capable of a grand gesture." "I burned my book for you." "And you're so lovely, so soft..." "Let's be the way we were before." "help me." "Stay with me." "Don't leave me." "Don't desert me again, I implore you." "I burned my book for you Sandra." "I did!" "I'II do anything for you, but don't leave me, don't leave me!" "If you do I'II kill myself, I swear." "No, not the way it was the time before, I'II really do it." "If you go I'm finished, there's nothing left for me." " Gianni!" " Everything will be over!" " Don't say it." " You don't believe me." "I prepared everything." "You see?" "You don't believe me." "I'II kill myself, I swear it." "You'II be sorry." "I can't live anymore without you near me." "Sandra!" "You're already dead for me, Gianni." ""Sandra, I'm leaving for Rome, and will go on to New York tomorrow." "Is there any need to tell you that from this moment on I shall do nothing but wait for you?" "I don't want to make any demands upon you." "I know you need to be alone for a while, but think, my darling." "And perhaps you'II discover that the past can be the foundation for a brighter future." "I pray that the choice you make will bring you back to me." "I will always love you." "Andrew."" "Andrew!" ""Sandra, I'm so alone, so miserable, I'm waiting for you." "Waiting for you." "Why have you stopped loving me?" "Why do I revolt you so?" "I've fallen into an abyss, the blackest hell one can imagine." "I'm frightened Sandra..."" "I'm so afraid." "My poor mother, my father." "But why?" "Why should I die?" "My sister and I, we didn't do it." "Sandra!" "help me!" "help me!" "I don't want to die." "I'm afraid to be dead." "Forgive me God." "I don't want to meet those ghosts." "Let loneliness again." "help me, Sandra." "Sandra!" "You want me to die." "Give me..." "Give me..." "My Sandra..." "Sandra..." "It was like yesterday, april 1942." ""Your prayer is mine too, Andrew, that we'II be together again." "You've put me to the test and I've not betrayed your trust." "I shall see you soon, free from ghosts and remorse." "Love." "Sandra"" "I think we should begin the ceremony now." "It's past time." " Very good, signore." " You can place the wreath." ""NAZI RAGE TORE HIM FROM STUDIES, LIFE, AND HIS BELOVED"" "Signore, signori, this is our first official tribute to a famous citizen of volterra, to the great scientist who died at the hands of the nazis." " Buongiorno, signora." " Buongiorno." "Fosca, tell signorino Gianni I've gone ahead to the ceremony." "It's quite late." "Si, signora." "Signorino?" "Signorino Gianni!" "Signorino?" "...his achievements and his genius, but we are not honouring him for that alone." "He was a warm, sympathetic personality." "When EmanueIe waiter Luzzotti appeared on the streets of volterra every shop, every clerk, every housemaid and child recognized a friend." " Doctor!" "Doctor!" " What?" "I can't find signorino Gianni." "I've been knocking on his door." "Have you looked around?" "In the bathroom?" "No, I only knocked on his door." "Let's see." "No, he's not there." "Look, that door's not usually open." "No, Fosca." "This way." "SPEAKS IN HEBREW" "SPEAKS IN HEBREW" "SPEAKS IN HEBREW" "SPEAKS IN HEBREW" "SPEAKS IN HEBREW"