He discreetly alluded to the fact that the husband had already succumbed to this danger, and praised the wife's lofty morality and piety, all the virtues which she displayed, and which guaranteed her veracity.

Then, without formulating any conclusion of his own, he left the decision to the wisdom of the Congregation.

And as he virtually repeated Advocate Morano's arguments, and Prada stubbornly refused to enter an appearance, it now seemed certain that the Congregation would by a great majority pronounce itself in favour of dissolution, a result which would enable the Holy Father to act benevolently.
"Ah! Dario _mio_!" said Benedetta, "we are at the end of our worries.

But what a lot of money, what a lot of money it all costs! Aunt says that they will scarcely leave us water to drink." So speaking she laughed with the happy heedlessness of an impassioned _amorosa_.

It was not that the jurisdiction of the Congregations was in itself ruinous; indeed, in principle, it was gratuitous.