So she replied as from inspiration:
"For a dignified and pure conscience like yours, so scrupulous of everything, making a mountain out of a mole-hill.... I can well understand, that the examination of the conscience must be a very serious thing.... There are some, to be sure, not so particular.... But for your Ladyship, it must indeed be a serious affair...."
Are the fish-hooks as old as the hills? I believe ever since Adam fishes have been caught by them. Thus, although flattery is of very ancient date, and although every man swears that he knows and detests it, yet by means of flattery, men, and particularly women, were always, and ever will be caught. Let him who reads be persuaded, that it is our nature to remember experience and its admonitions, as much as we remember the swallow that flew through the sky, or the smoke that escaped from our chimneys ten years ago.
Isabella, although she had any other inclination than smiling in her thoughts, yet could not help it on hearing herself praised, and God knows with what justice.
"The day after to-morrow, then, we shall rise early, and covered with a black mantilla go to the church of Santa Croce, perform our devotions, and return unobserved home."
"Yes, my Lady, it is a good idea, and a proof of your good judgment."
"Very well; let it be only between you and me, for no living soul must know it...."
"As for that, your Highness knows my fidelity and secresy...."
"Go to rest then, for it is already late, and to-morrow I may cause you to be called early."
"May God keep you in His holy guard."