"But because He hath made thee great, He hath given thee thy conscience
for thy guide, as mine to me; which holdeth me from grief over-much, for
I know thee to be true and great.
"Therefore for peace, and not for gladness, have I left thee; for
reverence to the Holy Father, and for the better keeping of all my vows.
"If perchance, at the feet of the Holy Father, my prayers and penances
might, by miracle, avail to turn his wrath from Venice--it could not
hurt thee!
"Yet because of this wish, which only holdeth life in me,--so sore is my
heart at leaving Venice and thee and our dear home of the Servi,--well I
know that never more mine eyes shall see these places of my love--and
thee, my friend!
"If we learn by the way of pain, after this life God will forgive our
errors!
"FRANCESCO, thy brother of the Servi."
XXIII
As the cry of the populace rang down the Canal Grande, following the
retreating ranks of the Jesuits, who, bound by their greater vows to
Rome, had remained steadfast and refused obedience to the Senate's
mandate, the Lady Marina, roused by the excitement which they dreaded,
had started to her feet with a marvelous return of her former mental
power and a fullness of comprehension which sought for no explanations.
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