, but requested that his visits might be kept secret.
    »I am unwilling,« said he, »that my breaking through a rule imposed by
necessity, should be generally known. Had I not resolved never to quit my
convent, except upon circumstances as urgent as that which has conducted me to
your door, I should be frequently summoned upon insignificant occasions; that
time would be engrossed by the curious, the unoccupied, and the fanciful, which
I now pass at the bed-side of the sick, in comforting the expiring penitent, and
clearing the passage to eternity from thorns.«
    Elvira commended equally his prudence and compassion, promising to conceal
carefully the honour of his visits. The monk then gave her his benediction, and
retired from the chamber.
    In the anti-room he found Antonia; he could not refuse himself the pleasure
of passing a few moments in her society. He bid her take comfort, for that her
mother seemed composed and tranquil, and he hoped that she might yet do well. He
enquired who attended her, and engaged to send the physician of his convent to
see her, one of the most skilful in Madrid. He then launched out in Elvira's
commendation, praised her purity and fortitude of mind, and declared that she
had inspired him with the highest esteem and reverence. Antonia's innocent heart
swelled with gratitude, joy danced in her eyes, where a tear still sparkled. The
hopes which he gave her of her mother's recovery, the lively interest which he
seemed to feel for her, and the flattering way in which she was mentioned by
him, added to the report of his judgment and virtue, and to the impression made
upon her by his eloquence, confirmed the favourable opinion with which his first
appearance had inspired Antonia. She replied with diffidence, but without
restraint: she feared not to relate to him all her little sorrows, all her
little fears and anxieties; and she thanked him for his goodness with all the
genuine warmth which favours kindle in a young and innocent heart. Such alone
knows how to estimate benefits at their full value. They who are conscious of
mankind's perfidy and selfishness, ever receive an obligation with apprehension
and distrust; they suspect that some secret motive must lurk behind it; they
express their thanks with restraint and caution, and fear to praise a kind
action to its full extent, aware that some future day a return may be required.
Not so Antonia - she thought the world was composed only of those who resembled
her, and that vice existed was to her still a secret
