The
imprisonment and the repeated interrogatories she had undergone had
produced a great effect upon her. She had become downcast to a very
much greater degree than she had been in the days immediately
following her arrest. She was very silent, refraining even from the
earnest and frequent protestations of her innocence, which, during
the early days of her imprisonment, she had seized every opportunity
of making. She passed many hours apparently plunged in deep
introspective thought; she wept much, and passed much of her time in
prayer.
And the judgment of the experienced people about her led them to
interpret these manifestations as signs of an approaching
confession. When at length the day for the trial was fixed, it was
reported that Paolina Foscarelli had confessed. But the criminal
authorities keep the secrets of their prison house in such matters;
and nothing certain was known upon the subject.
The very general impression, however, throughout the city was that,
whether she confessed or not, she was the real criminal, and that
such would be declared by the tribunal to be the case. And such a
solution of the mystery was readily accepted by the Ravenna world as
the most satisfactory that under the unhappy circumstances could be
arrived at.
The disgrace that rested on the city in consequence of the
perpetration of so foul a crime, and on such a victim, had been felt
throughout the city to a degree, that can be duly appreciated only
by those, who are acquainted with the strength and the exclusiveness
of Italian municipal patriotism.
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