Corilla

It was only in this way that she loved Carlo, and wept for him, except
that in this case her love had been of a longer duration, because it
was he who gave up and left her! That was what made her hatred so
glowing, that was what made her seek the life of the woman for whom
Carlo had deserted her.

"This is a new situation," said she, "which I am called to live through
and to feel. But a poetess must have experienced all feelings, or
she could not describe them. For my part, I do not believe in the
revelations of genius--I believe only in experiences. One can describe
only what one has felt and experienced. Whoever may attempt to describe
the flavor of an orange, must first have tasted it!"

That this attempt to murder Natalie had failed, was to her a matter of
little moment. She had experienced the emotion of it, and just the
same would it have been a matter of indifference to her had the dagger
pierced Natalie's breast--she was sufficiently a child of the South to
consider a murder as only a venial sin, for which the priest could grant
absolution.

There was only one thing which exclusively occupied Corilla, following
and tormenting her day and night, and that was her poetic fame. She
desired that her name should stand high in the world, glorified by all
Europe, and for this purpose she desired above all things to be crowned
as a poetess in the capitol of the holy city; for this fame she would
willingly have given many years of her life.