, for my word will
be all that they will ask.' I took the papers, and locked them
up. Never feeling any desire to look into them, I never did;
and as she gave them to me, I returned them to her, when I
left Rome for Switzerland.

"After this, she often spoke to me of the necessity there
had been, and still existed, for her keeping her marriage
a secret. At the time, I argued in favor of her making it
public, but subsequent events have shown me the wisdom of her
decision. The _explanation_ she gave me of the secret marriage
was this:

"They were married in December, soon after,--as I think,
though I am not positive,--the death of the old Marquis
Ossoli. The estate he had left was undivided, and the two
brothers, attached to the Papal household, were to be the
executors. This patrimony was not large, but, when fairly
divided, would bring to each a little property,--an income
sufficient, with economy, for life in Rome. Everyone knows,
that law is subject to ecclesiastical influence in Rome, and
that marriage with a Protestant would be destructive to all
prospects of favorable administration. And beside being
of another religious faith, there was, in this case, the
additional crime of having married a liberal,--one who had
publicly interested herself in radical views. Taking the two
facts together, there was good reason to suppose, that, if the
marriage were known, Ossoli must be a beggar, and a banished
man, under the then existing government; while, by waiting a
little, there was a chance,--a fair one, too,--of an honorable
post under the new government, whose formation every one was
anticipating. Leaving Rome, too, at that time, was deserting
the field wherein they might hope to work much good, and where
they felt that they were needed. Ossoli's brothers had
long before begun to look jealously upon him. Knowing his
acquaintance with Margaret, they feared the influence she
might exert over his mind in favor of liberal sentiments, and
had not hesitated to threaten him with the Papal displeasure.
Ossoli's education had been such, that it certainly argues an
uncommon elevation of character, that he remained so firm and
single in his political views, and was so indifferent to the
pecuniary advantages which his former position offered, since,
during many years, the