ice should be rendered
without delay, lest it be said the Republic vaunts more of the sacred
quality than it practises."

"Thou speakest as a guileless nature prompts. It is the frailty of man,
my daughter, to separate his public acts from the fearful responsibility
of his private deeds; as if God, in endowing his being with reason and
the glorious hopes of Christianity, had also endowed him with two souls,
of which only one was to be cared for."

"Are there not those, Father, who believe that, while the evil we commit
as individuals is visited on our own persons, that which is done by
states, falls on the nation?"

"The pride of human reason has invented diverse subtleties to satisfy
its own longings, but it can never feed itself on a delusion more fatal
than this! The crime which involves others in its guilt or consequences,
is doubly a crime, and though it be a property of sin to entail its own
punishment, even in our present life, he trusts to a vain hope who
thinks the magnitude of the offence will ever be its apology. The chief
security of our nature is to remove it beyond temptation, and he is
safest from the allurements of the world who is farthest removed from
its vices. Though I would wish justice done to the noble Neapolitan, it
may be for his everlasting peace that the additional wealth he seeks
should be withheld."

"I am unwilling to believe, Father, that a cavalier, who has shown
himself so ready to assist the distressed, will easily abuse the gifts
of fortune."

The Carmelite fastened an uneasy look on the bright features of the
young Venetian. Parental solicitude and prophetic foresight were in his
glance, but the expression was relieved by the charity of a chastened
spirit.

"Gratitude to the preserver of thy life becomes thy station and sex; it
is a duty. Cherish the feeling, for it is akin to the holy obligation of
man to his Creator."

"Is it enough to feel grateful!" demanded Violetta. "One of my name and
alliances might do more. We can move the patricians of my family in
behalf of the stranger, that his protracted suit may come to a more
speedy end."

"Daughter, beware; the intercession of one in whom St. Mark feels so
lively an interest, may raise up enemies to Don Camillo, instead of
friends."

Donna Violetta was silent, while the monk and Donna Florinda both
regarded her with affectionate concern. The former then adjusted his
cowl, and prepared to depart. The noble maiden approache