SUNNY HONEYMOON
645
Again Giacomo didn't really want to get into a political argu–
ment; he wanted to make a show of the serenity and detachment
which he thoroughly believed were his. But again his annoyance
carried him away.
"But "T - -" (this was the name of a Communist friend they
had in common) "committed suicide, didn't he?"
"He did wrong," she said succinctly.
"Why so? He must have had some reason. What do you know?"
"I do know, though," she said obstinately. "He did wrong.
It's our duty to live."
"Our duty?"
"Yes,
duty."
"Who says so?"
"Nobody. It just is."
"I might just as well say that it's our duty to take our life
if
we feel it's not worth living ... Nobody says so. It just
is."
"That's not true," she answered inflexibly. "We were made to
live and not to die.... Only someone that's sick or
in
a morbid
state of mind can think that life's not worth living."
"So you think that T - - was either sick or in a morbid state
of mind, do you?"
"At the moment when he killed himself, yes, I do."
Giacomo was tempted to ask her if this was the Party line, as
seemed to him evident from that stubborn note in her voice which
.annoyed
him
so greatly, but this time he managed to restrain him–
self. By now they had reached the bottom of the slope and were
crossing a dry, flat area, covered with woodspurge and prickly pears.
Then the land turned into rock and they found themselves before
the lighthouse, at the end of the path, which seemed like the end of
all human habitation and the beginning of a new and lonely world
of colorless chalk and stone. The lighthouse rose up above them as
they plunged down among the boulders toward the sea. At a bend
they suddenly came upon a basin of green water, surrounded by
rocky black cliffs, eroded by salt. Simona ran down to the cement
landing and exclaimed:
"Wonderful! Just what I was hoping for! Now we can swim.
And we have it
all
to ourselves. We're quite alone."
