"None enter here, without
cause, but my father and myself; and my father is much occupied with his
charge."
"Hast thou no domestic?"
"None, lady. A prison-keeper's daughter should not be too proud to serve
herself."
"Thou sayest well. One of thy discretion, good Gelsomina, must know it
is not seemly for females of condition to be thrown within walls like
these, even by accident, and thou wilt do us much favor, by taking more
than common means to be certain that we are unseen. We give thee much
trouble, but it shall not go unrequited. Here is gold."
Gelsomina did not answer, but as she stood with her eyes cast to the
floor, the color stole to her cheeks, until her usually bloodless face
was in a soft glow.
"Nay, I have mistaken thy character!" said Donna Florinda, secreting the
sequins, and taking the unresisting hand of the silent girl. "If I have
pained thee by my indiscretion, attribute the offer to our dread of the
disgrace of being seen in this place."
The glow deepened, and the lips of the girl quivered.
"Is it then a disgrace to be innocently within these walls, lady?" she
asked, still with an averted eye. "I have long suspected this, but none
has ever before said it, in my hearing!"
"Holy Maria pardon me! If I have uttered a syllable to pain thee,
excellent girl, it has been unwittingly and without intention!"
"We are poor, lady, and the needy must submit to do that which their
wishes might lead them to avoid.
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