She had been to Saint John Lateran's at midsummer for the great festival, and she knew where the hospital was, in which famous professors cured every ill under the sun.

If she could bring Marcello to them, he would get well; if he stayed much longer at the inn, Paoluccio would kill him; being a woman, and a loving one, Regina only regarded as possible what she wished, where the man she loved was concerned.
She made up her mind that if it could not be done by any other means she would carry Marcello all the way.

During his illness she had often lifted him from his bed like a little child, for he was slightly built by nature and was worn to a shadow by the fever.

Even Aurora could have raised him, and he was a featherweight in the arms of such a creature as Regina.

But it would be another matter to carry such an awkward burden for miles along the highroad; and besides, she would meet the carabineers, and as she would have to go at night, they would probably arrest her and put her in prison, and Marcello would die.