In her present situation she found much novelty to amuse, and much
serious matter to interest her mind. Entendered by distress, she
easily yielded to the pensive manners of her companions and to the
serene uniformity of a monastic life. She loved to wander through the
lonely cloisters, and high-arched aisles, whose long perspectives
retired in simple grandeur, diffusing a holy calm around. She found
much pleasure in the conversation of the nuns, many of whom were
uncommonly amiable, and the dignified sweetness of whose manners
formed a charm irresistibly attractive. The soft melancholy impressed
upon their countenances, pourtrayed the situation of their minds, and
excited in Julia a very interesting mixture of pity and esteem. The
affectionate appellation of sister, and all that endearing tenderness
which they so well know how to display, and of which they so well
understand the effect, they bestowed on Julia, in the hope of winning
her to become one of their order.
Soothed by the presence of madame, the assiduity of the nuns, and by
the stillness and sanctity of the place, her mind gradually recovered
a degree of complacency to which it had long been a stranger. But
notwithstanding all her efforts, the idea of Hippolitus would at
intervals return upon her memory with a force that at once subdued her
fortitude, and sunk her in a temporary despair.
Among the holy sisters, Julia distinguished one, the singular fervor
of whose devotion, and the pensive air of whose countenance, softened
by the languor of illness, attracted her curiosity, and excited a
strong degree of pity. The nun, by a sort of sympathy, seemed
particularly inclined towards Julia, which she discovered by
innumerable acts of kindness, such as the heart can quickly understand
and acknowledge, although description can never reach them. In
conversation with her, Julia endeavoured, as far as delicacy would
permit, to prompt an explanation of that more than common dejection
which shaded those features, where beauty, touched by resignation and
sublimed by religion, shone forth with mild and lambent lustre. T
he Duke de Luovo, after having been detained for some weeks by the
fever which his wounds had produced, and his irritated passions had
much prolonged, arrived at the castle of Mazzini.
When the marquis saw him return, and recollected the futility of those
exertions, by which he had boastingly promised to recover Julia, the
violence of his nature spurned the disguise of art, and burst forth in
contemptuous impeachment of the valour and discernment of the duke,
who soon retorted with equal fury. The consequence might have been
fatal, had not the ambition of the marquis subdued the sudden
irritation of his inferior passions, and induced him to soften the
severity of his accusations, by subsequent concessions. The duke,
whose passion for Julia was heightened by the difficulty which opposed
it, admitted such concessions as in other circumstances he would have
rejected; and thus each, conquered by the predominant passion of the
moment, submitted to be the slave of his adversary.