This incident occasioned Julia much alarm. She could not but believe
that the men whom she had seen were spies of the marquis;--if so, her
asylum was discovered, and she had every thing to apprehend. Madame
now judged it necessary to the safety of Julia, that the Abate
should be informed of her story, and of the sanctuary she had sought
in his monastery, and also that he should be solicited to protect her
from parental tyranny. This was a hazardous, but a necessary step, to
provide against the certain danger which must ensue, should the
marquis, if he demanded his daughter of the Abate, be the first to
acquaint him with her story. If she acted otherwise, she feared that
the Abate, in whose generosity she had not confided, and whose pity
she had not solicited, would, in the pride of his resentment, deliver
her up, and thus would she become a certain victim to the Duke de
Luovo.
Julia approved of this communication, though she trembled for the
event; and requested madame to plead her cause with the Abate. On
the following morning, therefore, madame solicited a private audience
of the Abate; she obtained permission to see him, and Julia, in
trembling anxiety, watched her to the door of his apartment. This
conference was long, and every moment seemed an hour to Julia, who, in
fearful expectation, awaited with Cornelia the sentence which would
decide her destiny. She was now the constant companion of Cornelia,
whose declining health interested her pity, and strengthened her
attachment. Meanwhile madame developed to the Abate the distressful story of
Julia. She praised her virtues, commended her accomplishments, and
deplored her situation. She described the characters of the marquis
and the duke, and concluded with pathetically representing, that Julia
had sought in this monastery, a last asylum from injustice and misery,
and with entreating that the Abate would grant her his pity and
protection.
The Abate during this discourse preserved a sullen silence; his eyes
were bent to the ground, and his aspect was thoughful and solemn. When
madame ceased to speak, a pause of profound silence ensued, and she
sat in anxious expectation. She endeavoured to anticipate in his
countenance the answer preparing, but she derived no comfort from
thence. At length raising his head, and awakening from his deep
reverie, he told her that her request required deliberation, and that
the protection she solicited for Julia, might involve him in serious
consequences, since, from a character so determined as the marquis's,
much violence might reasonably be expected. 'Should his daughter be
refused him,' concluded the Abate, 'he may even dare to violate the
sanctuary.'