QUOTE : On the day Contessa Carolina Fantoni was married, only one other living person knew that she was going blind, and he was not her groom.<br /><br />This was not because she had failed to warn them.<br /><br />“I am going blind,” she had blurted to her mother, in the welcome dimness of the family coach, her eyes still bright with tears from the searing winter sun. By this time, her peripheral vision was already gone. Carolina could feel her mother take her hand, but she had to turn to see her face. When she did, her mother kissed her, her own eyes full of pity.<br /><br />“I have been in love, too,” she said, and looked away.