Chapter 23 Summary

The twenty-third chapter chronicles the climax of Viola's torture of poor Cosimo. The townspeople come to recognize that whenever they see Cosimo in the ilex tree in the center of town, it is because his lover has left for one of her long absences. Her escapes coincide with her not being able to get Cosimo to understand something about her strange version of love. Cosimo occupies himself with all of the things that used to fill his time and refuses to admit that he is affected by her absence at all. When she returnes, the passion of their love still carries the taint of the mystery inspiring his jealousy.

The mystery of Viola's activities when she is away is solved once and for all when Biagio sees her on a visit of his own to Paris. She is dressed elaborately and the report...