[CHAPTER XXXII.]
THE NUN'S HUSBAND.
A deep silence long surrounded the two women, one in
painful meditation, the other in astonishment readily understood.
"If you were removed out of the nunnery," said Lady Louise, to break this silence, "you are unaware of how it was done? Yet a convent is well enclosed and guarded, with bars to the windows, walls of height and a warder who keeps the keys. In Italy it is particularly so, where the regulations are stricter than in France."
"What can I tell your ladyship, when I puzzle my brains without finding a clue?"
"But if you saw this man, did you not blame him for the abduction?"
"I did, but he excused himself on the plea that he loved me. I told him that he frightened me, and that I was sure that I did not like him. The strange feeling is another kind. I am not myself when he is by, but his; whatever he wills, I must do; one look fascinates me and subdues me. You see, lady, this must be magic."
"At least, it is strange, if not supernatural," said the princess. "But you are in the company of this man?"
"Yes; but I do not love him."
"Then why not appeal to the authorities, your parents, the ecclesiastical powers?"