I bowed. I could not trust myself to speak.
"He made you his apology?" asked the marquis.
I bowed again. There was another pause of heavy silence. The rigid smiling face of the corpse seemed to mock all speech. The doctor stooped and skillfully closed those glazed appealing eyes--and then it seemed to me as though Guido merely slept and that a touch would waken him. The Marquis D'Avencourt took me by the arm and whispered, "Get back to the city, amico, and take some wine--you look positively ill! Your evident regret does you credit, considering the circumstances--but what would you?--it was a fair fight. Consider the provocation you had! I should advise you to leave Naples for a couple of weeks--by that time the affair will be forgotten. I know how these things are managed--leave it all to me."
I thanked him and shook his hand cordially and turned to depart. Vincenzo was in waiting with the carriage. Once I looked back, as with slow steps I left the field; a golden radiance illumined the sky just above the stark figure stretched so straightly on the sward; while almost from the very side of that pulseless heart a little bird rose from its nest among the grasses and soared into the heavens, singing rapturously as it flew into the warmth and glory of the living, breathing day.