In this romance, Donna Maria, who has left her husband for her lover, returns home after three years' absence. Her husband, realizing that the fault was his in part, desires her return, and offers her his pardon. The great passion of her life, "beyond all laws and duties," is over, and she wishes only to atone to her husband for his suffering by devoting herself to his happiness. She advises her lover, Count Marco, to marry the betrothed he had deserted for her sake. The second part of the book is the story of their failure to escape from the past. Count Marco fails to make his young bride...