A Sicilian Romance

This incident occasioned Julia much alarm. She could not but believe

that the men whom she had seen were spies of the marquis;--if so, her

asylum was discovered, and she had every thing to apprehend. Madame

now judged it necessary to the safety of Julia, that the Abate

should be informed of her story, and of the sanctuary she had sought

in his monastery, and also that he should be solicited to protect her

from parental tyranny. This was a hazardous, but a necessary step, to

provide against the certain danger which must ensue, should the

marquis, if he demanded his daughter of the Abate, be the first to

acquaint him with her story. If she acted otherwise, she feared that

the Abate, in whose generosity she had not confided, and whose pity

she had not solicited, would, in the pride of his resentment, deliver

her up, and thus would she become a certain victim to the Duke de

Luovo.

Julia approved of this communication, though she trembled for the

event; and requested madame to plead her cause with the Abate. On

the following morning, therefore, madame solicited a private audience

of the Abate; she obtained permission to see him, and Julia, in

trembling anxiety, watched her to the door of his apartment. This

conference was long, and every moment seemed an hour to Julia, who, in

fearful expectation, awaited with Cornelia the sentence which would

decide her destiny. She was now the constant companion of Cornelia,

whose declining health interested her pity, and strengthened her

attachment. Meanwhile madame developed to the Abate the distressful story of

Julia. She praised her virtues, commended her accomplishments, and

deplored her situation. She described the characters of the marquis

and the duke, and concluded with pathetically representing, that Julia

had sought in this monastery, a last asylum from injustice and misery,

and with entreating that the Abate would grant her his pity and

protection.

The Abate during this discourse preserved a sullen silence; his eyes

were bent to the ground, and his aspect was thoughful and solemn. When

madame ceased to speak, a pause of profound silence ensued, and she

sat in anxious expectation. She endeavoured to anticipate in his

countenance the answer preparing, but she derived no comfort from

thence. At length raising his head, and awakening from his deep

reverie, he told her that her request required deliberation, and that

the protection she solicited for Julia, might involve him in serious

consequences, since, from a character so determined as the marquis's,

much violence might reasonably be expected. 'Should his daughter be

refused him,' concluded the Abate, 'he may even dare to violate the

sanctuary.'