"Yes. Bring food and drink within the hour!"
"Yes, Holiness." said Cardinal Levy, then left them both in his office.
The ArchBishop stayed silent as he looked-over the beautiful young woman. He stepped closer to her, but she inched backward and up against the door. She held the veil that she wore over her head and shoulders, tightly in her hands.
He stopped his advance towards her, to let himself take-in the full extent of her pure, young beauty; the tresses of gold that hid beneath the veil, the soft roundness of her form and the delicate prettiness of her bare feet and shapely legs.
Her large, sky-blue eyes, reflected the objects in the room and shone like sapphires when they caught the sunlight that beamed in, from the outside.
The choir still chanted in the Cathedral. The voices of all those men rose into the groins of the chapel within, and then echoed out towards the town.
The ArchBishop grinned at the girl and asked her name but she did not answer. Her fright robbed her of her speech and after he asked her twice, in a soft and kindly manner, he at last boomed harshly.
"What is your name, my child?" he ordered and moved closer to her.
She showed nervousness when pinned up against the door with nowhere else to move. She began to speak, her melodic voice trembled and stuttered.
"My name is Mercedes, Holiness! — Please, please do not hurt me! I don't know what sins I have committed but please, I repent them!"