SAN GIMIGNANO TO THE NORTH
1727
XLVII
Venetian politics has long been famous for its reverence of secrets and for its cruelty. I was subject to and the subject of both. [Antonia, 1741]
Her heart aching to be with Orlando for the harvest, Antonia sat stiffly in a chair. She gazed southward from the balcony that had once been her portal to freedom. Now she was imprisoned by it and by her back. Numbness, physical and emotional, had replaced passion in her life. Her only goal now was a return to the violin and composition. She would be able to lose herself in both and assuage the Maestro"s profound grief at the same time. If only her arm would cooperate, her violin would be her voice, her only voice.
Coming into her view, his gondola glided through the waters toward the Pieta. She would w
