It was useless to cry over what could not be helped, and since she
had made the great mistake of her life she must keep her word or lose
her good name for ever, according to the ideas in which she had been
brought up. But it would be very hard to meet San Miniato now, within
the next quarter of an hour, as she inevitably must. Less hard, perhaps,
than if she had convicted him of falsehood in the matter of the
telegram, as she had fully expected that she could--but painful enough,
heaven knew.
There was an old trace of oriental fatalism in her nature, passed down
to her, perhaps, from some Saracen ancestor in the unknown genealogy of
her family. It is common enough in the south, often profoundly leavened
with superstition, sometimes existing side by side with the most
absolute scepticism, but its influence is undeniable, and accounts for a
certain resignation in hopeless cases which would be utterly foreign to
the northern character. Beatrice had it, and having got the worst of the
first contest she conceived that further resistance would be wholly
useless, and accepted the inevitable conclusion that she must marry San
Miniato whether she liked him or not.
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