The Venetians · Chapter
XXXIII: “Both Together, He Her God, She His Idol” explained
Eve Vansittart, now in Venice, seeks to uncover the details of her brother's fatal encounter at a café, learning from a photographer that the incident occurred at Florian's.
What happens
Eve Vansittart, now in Venice, seeks to uncover the details of her brother's fatal encounter at a café, learning from a photographer that the incident occurred at Florian's. She visits the cemetery at San Michele, praying for the man who killed her brother—her husband, Jack Vansittart. Later, she discovers a newspaper notice indicating Vansittart's return from Africa, and upon consulting her doctor, she learns her condition is worsening. Determined to see her husband before she dies, she sends a telegram to him at Brindisi, asking him to meet her in Venice.
Themes in this chapter
Guilt and Redemption
Eve prays for the man who killed her brother, seeking his redemption and peace, while Vansittart's wanderings reflect his guilt and search for atonement.
Love and Sacrifice
Eve's love for her husband leads her to sacrifice her loyalty to her dead brother, yearning to see him before she dies.
Fate and Consequence
The fatal encounter in Venice sets off a chain of events that leads to Eve's illness and her desperate attempt to reunite with Vansittart.
Characters to notice
- Eve Marchant
Now Eve Vansittart, she is resolute and determined to uncover the truth about her brother's death and to see her husband before she dies.
- Jack Vansittart
The wanderer who killed Eve's brother; he is returning from Africa, and Eve longs to see him despite her loyalty to her dead brother.
- Hetty
Eve's sister, who is present and concerned, accompanying Eve during her illness and travels.
- Benson
The chaperone who accompanies Hetty on sightseeing trips around Venice.
- the doctor
The English doctor who had attended Eve at St. Moritz and now gives her a grave prognosis in Venice.
Key passages
“Pale, quiet, resolute, with her mind made up as to what she had to do, Eve Vansittart crossed the Piazzetta towards Florian’s Caffè, and slowly, very slowly, passed in front of the windows, looking at the loungers seated here and there at the marble tables, and wondering whether this was the scene of her brother’s fate.”
Eve, determined and composed, walked across the square to Florian's café, scanning the patrons and pondering if this was where her brother met his end.
Eve's quest to uncover the truth about her brother's death.
“She sank on her knees in the hollow between two graves, and abandoned herself to a long ecstasy of supplication, praying not for the dead, at peace beneath that green mound where the grasshoppers were chirping, and the swift lizards gliding in and out—not for the dead, but for the man who killed him, for the conscience-burdened wanderer, under torrid suns, far from peace, and home, and all the pleasures and comforts of civilization, seeking forgetfulness in the arid desert, in the fever-haunted swamp, among savage beasts and savage men, going with his life in his hand, lying down to sleep at the end of a weary day, with the knowledge that if his campfires were not watched he might wake to find himself face to face with a lion.”
Kneeling between graves, Eve prayed not for her brother but for his killer—her husband—imagining his perilous life in the wild, seeking peace and safety for him.
Eve's prayer for Vansittart's redemption and safety.
““Send for him, then,” said the doctor, divining that the someone was her husband. “Send for him, and set your mind at rest.””
The doctor, understanding Eve's wish, advised her to summon her husband to ease her mind.
The doctor's advice leads Eve to send the telegram.
