n.

The marquis arrived without hindrance before the secret door of the room
in which the girl was hidden, a sort of cell made in the angle of the
house and belonging exclusively to Juana, who had remained there hidden
during the day from every eye while the siege lasted. Up to the present
time she had slept in the room of her adopted mother, but the limited
space in the garret where the merchant and his wife had gone to make
room for the officer who was billeted upon them, did not allow of her
going with them. Dona Lagounia had therefore left the young girl to the
guardianship of lock and key, under the protection of religious ideas,
all the more efficacious because they were partly superstitious, and
also under the shield of a native pride and sensitive modesty which made
the young Mancini in sort an exception among her sex. Juana possessed
in an equal degree the most attaching virtues and the most passionate
impulses; she had needed the modesty and sanctity of this monotonous
life to calm and cool the tumultuous blood of the Maranas which bounded
in her heart, the desires of which her adopted mother told her were an
instigation of the devil.

A faint ray of light traced along the sill of the secret door guided
Montefiore to the place; he scratched the panel softly and Juana opened
to him. Montefiore entered, palpitating, but he recognized in the
expression of the girl's face complete ignorance of her peril, a sort of
naive curiosity, and an innocent admiration. He stopped short, arrested
for a moment by the sacredness of the picture which met his eyes.

He saw before him a tapestry on the walls with a gray ground sprinkled
with violets, a little coffer of ebony, an antique mirror, an immense
and very old arm chair also in ebony and covered with tapestry, a table
with twisted legs, a pretty carpet on the floor, near the table a
single chair; and that was all. On the table, however, were flowers and
embroidery; in a recess at the farther end of the room was the narrow
little bed where Juana dreamed. Above the bed were three pictures;
and near the pillow a crucifix, with a holy water basin and a prayer,
printed in letters of gold and framed. Flowers exhaled their perfume
faintly; the candles cast a tender light; all was calm and pure and
sacred. The dreamy thoughts of Juana, but above all Juana herself, had
communicated to all things her own peculiar charm; her soul appeared
to shine there, like the pearl in its matri