ry, his authority was ample, his excuse ingenuity
itself: 'He had just heard that a man was secreted within those
consecrated walls; he was determined to see for himself, if he had to
tear one stone from another; under his supervision no such infamy should
be so much as suspected.' And so, making a virtue of necessity, the
panic-struck lady abbess yielded her dignity, and the _posse_ of
pretended inspectors stood within the drowsy walls before one rose-tint
in the East threatened their secret with exposure.

So responsible an official could not be satisfied with seeing the nuns
together, or witnessing their earliest chapel-service; he must enter
every room, survey every cranny, and leave no possibility of deception,
no corner for concealment. And posting some of his servants--whose
excessive watchfulness might prove a little inconvenient--at the two
principal entrances, with his remaining attendants he proceeded orderly
from room to room, the superior refusing, as was expected, to sanction
by her presence such an invasion of the sacred privacy of her
institution. When they reached the cell adjoining that where our tale
properly ends, the disguised nun was far enough in the rear of the
feebly-lighted party, and they too busy in the pretended search, for her
disappearance to be noticed--her uncle had made her see that this was
the only chance--so, flinging the coat and hat through an open window
into the yard, she glided with ghost-like tread into her own apartment,
and when the drowsy servitors opened her door, she was seen upon her
knees before the crucifix, praying more fervently than ever the jubilant
prayer of a newly-rescued soul.

The trouble threatened to lead to some farther difficulties. For these
ladies were of the Roman aristocracy, and their honor had been
impeached, their sanctuary invaded, their solemn asseverations had been
disregarded, their protector had become their accuser. It might have
gone hard with the father who had planned this ingenious device to save
his name from disgrace and shield his niece from suffering. But, just
before the party turned from the convent-gate, a keen eye detected the
fallen mantle; and the trophy was exhibited to the agitated superior, in
proof that some of the forbidden sex had been lurking around, and had
stolen away in terror from so formidable a search; she was warned to new
vigilance, and offered every assistance for the future which the papal
guards could bestow.