Then a change came into her face, and she spoke in a hoarse whisper, and as if frightened.
'Are you going to refuse me absolution for taking the will ?' she asked.
The question was so unexpected that Sister Giovanna did not find anything to say at once, and before any words occurred to her the Princess was speaking hurriedly and earnestly, but still in a loud whisper, which occasionally broke into a very low and trembling tone of voice.
'I did it for the best.

What could that wretched girl have done with the money, even if the lawyers had proved the will good?
Why did not my brother-in-law get civilly married, instead of leaving his daughter without so much as a name?
There must have been a reason.

Perhaps she was not really his wife's child! It was all his fault, and the will was not legal and would only have given trouble if I had let them find it! So I took it away, and burned it in my own room.

What harm was there in that?
It saved so many useless complications, and we had a right to the fortune! The lawyers said so! I cannot see that it was really a sin at all, Father, indeed I cannot! I have confessed it from a scruple of conscience, and you will not refuse me absolution! How can you, when I say I am sorry for it?
Yes, yes, I am!' The voice rose to a low cry.

'Since you say it was a sin I repent, I will--what?
You are not in earnest, Father?
Make restitution?
Give the whole fortune to a nun?
Oh, no, no! You cannot expect me to do that! Rob my children of what would have been theirs even if I had not taken the will?
It is out of the question, I tell you! Utterly out of the question! Besides, it is not mine at all--I have not got a penny of it! It is all my husband's and I cannot touch it--do you understand ?' Sister Giovanna had listened in spite of herself.
'The nun expects nothing and does not want the money,' she said, bending down.