He turned his head and saw the face of his adoptive father

Grayscale illustration of a prisoner clutching the arm of a nobly-dressed man in a crowd. The man’s eyes are wide in surprise and fear.

In the crowded Piazza del Duomo, Baldassarre, newly freed, seizes Tito Melema’s arm as the prisoners scatter. Their silent recognition exposes Tito’s fear and betrayal, a moment that drives Baldassarre back into hiding and deepens the chapter’s conflict. “It was Tito Melema who felt that clutch. He turned his head, and saw the face or his adoptive father, Baldassarre Calvo, close to his own. The two men looked at each other, silent as death: Baldassarre, with dark fierceness and a tightening grip of the soiled worn hands on the velvet-clad arm; Tito, with cheeks and lips all bloodless, fascinated by terror. It seemed a long while to them-it was but a moment" ("The Prisoners", Chapter 22).

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952)

George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org

1911

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Hammond, G. Demain (1862-1952), He turned his head and saw the face of his adoptive father, George Eliot Illustrations Gallery, George Eliot Archive , edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://www.georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/83460