She could feel the T’ang horse beneath her fingers and she knew it was that even more than the Marquis’s words, which had reminded her that life is eternal and death nothing more than the shedding of an unwanted garment.
‘I understand now, Papa, and I am no longer afraid. I am sorry, very sorry that I failed you, and myself, in such a foolish manner.’
She felt as if her father was smiling at her and she could feel the power of the faith in which they both believed seeping back into her and driving out the last remnants of doubt and fear.
‘How could I ever have thought of imprisoning myself in a Convent?’ she asked herself. ‘I should have been thinking of ways in which I could spend the money you left me for the benefit of other people.’
At the same time, now that her brain was function
