alive; and that the father to whom you have confessed yourself was
once that Theodosius whom you so much lament. The love which we have
had for one another will make us more happy in its disappointment than
it could have done in its success. Providence has disposed of us for
our advantage, though not according to our wishes. Consider your
Theodosius still as dead, but assure yourself of one who will not
cease to pray for you in father

"FRANCIS."

Constantia saw that the handwriting agreed with the contents of the
letter; and, upon reflecting on the voice of the person, the behaviour,
and above all the extreme sorrow of the father during her confession, she
discovered Theodosius in every particular. After having wept with tears
of joy, "It is enough," says she; "Theodosius is still in being: I shall
live with comfort and die in peace."

The letters which the father sent her afterwards are yet extant in the
nunnery where she resided; and are often read to the young religious, in
order to inspire them with good resolutions and sentiments of virtue. It
so happened that after Constantia had lived about ten years in the
cloister, a violent fever broke out in the place, which swept away great
multitudes, and among others Theodosius. Upon his death-bed he sent his
benediction in a very moving manner to Constantia, who at that time was
herself so far gone in the same fatal distemper that she lay delirious.
Upon the interval which generally precedes death in sickness of this
nature, the abbess, finding that the physicians had given her over, told
her that Theodosius had just gone before her, and that he had sent her
his benediction in his last moments. Constantia received it with
pleasure. "And now," says she, "if I do not ask anything improper, let
me be buried by Theodosius. My vow reaches no further than the grave;
what I ask is, I hope, no violation of it." She died soon after, and was
interred according to her request.

The tombs are still to be seen, with a short Latin inscription over them
to the following purpose:--

"Here lie the bodies of Father Francis and Sister Constance. They
were lovely in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."

GOOD NATURE.

Part One.

_Sic vita erat_: _facile omnes perferre ac pati_:
_Cum quibus erat cunque una_, _his sese dedere_,
_Eorum obsequi studiis_: _advorsus nemini_;
_Nunquam praeponens se aliis_.