“Yes, I believe it.”
“Learn, then, that the care of souls in this place, being committed to us, we have the most ample powers from the church; and I can, if you ask it, free you from the obligation you have contracted by this vow.”
“But is it not a sin to repent of a promise made to the Virgin?” said Lucy, violently agitated by unexpected hope.
“Sin, my child,” said the father, “sin, to recur to the church, and to ask her minister to use the authority which he has received from her, and which she receives from God! I bless him that he has given me, unworthy that I am, the power to speak in his name, and to restore to you your vow. If you ask me to absolve you from it, I shall not hesitate to do so; and I even hope you will.”
“Then—then—I ask it,” said Lucy, with a modest confidence.
The friar beckoned to Renzo, who was watching the progress of the dialogue with the deepest solicitude, to approach, and said aloud to Lucy, “With the authority I hold from the church, I declare you absolved from your vow, and liberate you from all the obligations you may have contracted by it.”
The reader may imagine the feelings of Renzo at these words. His eyes expressed the warmth of his gratitude to him who had uttered them; but they sought in vain for Lucy’s.
“Return in peace and safety to your former attachment,” said the father. “And do you remember, my son, that in giving you this companion, the church does it not to insure simply your temporal happiness, but to prepare you both for happiness without end. Thank Heaven that you have been brought to this state through misery and affliction: your joy will be the more temperate and durable. If God should grant you children, bring them up in his fear, and in love to all men—for the rest you cannot greatly err. And now, Lucy, has Renzo told you whom he has beheld in this place?”
“Yes, father, he has told me.”
“You will pray for him, and for me also, my children. You will remember your poor friar?” And drawing from his basket a small wooden box, “Within this box are the remains of the loaf—the first I asked for charity—the loaf of which you have heard; I leave it to you; show it to your children; they will come into a wicked world; they will meet the proud and insolent. Tell them always to forgive, always! every thing, every thing! And let them pray for the poor friar!”