Yes--go to the convent, among the good and pious nuns--and when you pray for yourself, pray for the peace of your dead husband's soul--and--for me! Such prayers, unselfish and earnest, uttered by pure lips like yours, fly swiftly to heaven! And as for young Guido--have no fear--I promise you he shall offend you no more!" "Ah, you do not know him!" she murmured, lightly kissing my hands that still held hers; "I fear he will give you a great deal of trouble." "I shall at any rate know how to silence him," I said, releasing her as I spoke, and watching her as she rose from her kneeling position and stood before me, supple and delicate as a white iris swaying in the wind.

"You never gave him reason to hope--therefore he has no cause of complaint." "True!" she replied, readily, with an untroubled smile.

"But I am such a nervous creature! I am always imagining evils that never happen.

And now, Cesare, when do you wish me to go to the convent ?" I shrugged my shoulders with an air of indifference.
"Your submission to my will, mia bella" I said, coldly, "is altogether charming, and flatters me much, but I am not your master--not yet! Pray choose your own time, and suit your departure to your own pleasure." "Then," she replied, with an air of decision, "I will go today.

The sooner the better--for some instinct tells me that Guido will play us a trick and return before we expect him.