"My last point, dearest, is that I am ill, and very, very anxious to see

you soon. My health has been failing ever since you left Rome. Perhaps

the anxieties I have gone through have been partly the cause of this,

but I am sure that your absence is chiefly responsible, and that no

doctor and no medicine would be so good for me as one rush into your

arms. Therefore come and give me back all my health and happiness. Come,

I beg of you. Leave it to others to do your work abroad. Come at once

before things have gone too far; come, come, come!"

She hesitated, wanting to say, "Not that I am very ill...." And then,

"You mustn't come if there is any risk to yourself...." And again, "I

would never forgive myself if...." But she crushed down her qualms,

sealed her letter, and sent the Garibaldian to post it.

Then she gathered up the entire body of David Rossi's letters, and

putting some light firewood into the stove she sat on the ground to burn

them. It was necessary to remove all evidence that could be used against

him in the event of a domiciliary visitation. One by one as the letters,

were passed into the fire she read parts of them, and some of the

passages seemed to stand out afresh in the flames. "Your friend must be

a true woman, and it was very sweet of you to be so tender with

her." ... "There is always a little twinge when I read between the lines

of your letters. Are you not dissimulating?... to keep up my

spirits?" ... "You shall smile and recover all your girlish spirits....

I shall hear your silvery laugh again as I did on that glorious day in

the Campagna." ... "It shows how rightly I judged the moral elevation

of your soul, your impeccability, your spirit of fire and your heart of

gold."

While the letters were burning she felt herself to be under the

influence of a kind of delirium. It was almost as though she were

committing murder.

X

The Pope had begun the day with the long task of administering the

sacrament to the lay members of his household, yet at eight o'clock he

was back in his library in the midst of his morning receptions

surrounded by a bevy of camerieri, monsignori, and messengers. First

came a Cardinal Prefect of Propaganda to report the doings of his

congregation; then an ambassador from Spain to tell of the suppression

of religious orders; and finally the majordomo to recite the official

programme for the public ceremonies which the Pope had ordered for Holy

Thursday.




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