The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Early Short Fiction of Edith Wharton by Edith Wharton: affairs happened to engage him; the months slipped by, and
gradually the lady and the picture dwelt less vividly in his
mind.
It was not till five or six years later, when chance took him
again to Siena, that the recollection started from some inner
fold of memory. He found himself, as it happened, at the head of
Doctor Lombard's street, and glancing down that grim
thoroughfare, caught an oblique glimpse of the doctor's house
front, with the Dead Hand projecting above its threshold.
The sight revived his interest, and that evening, over an
admirable frittata, he questioned his landlady about Miss
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