"
WERNER.
The Carmelite and Gelsomina found the keepers in waiting, and when they
quitted the cell its door was secured for the night. As they had no
further concerns with the jailors they passed on unquestioned. But when
the end of the corridor which led towards the apartments of the keeper
was reached, the monk stopped.
"Art thou equal to a great effort, in order that the innocent shall not
die?" he suddenly asked, though with a solemnity that denoted the
influence of a high and absorbing motive.
"Father!"
"I would know if thy love for the youth can sustain thee in a trying
scene; for without this effort he will surely perish!"
"I would die to save Jacopo a pang!"
"Deceive not thyself, daughter! Canst thou forget thy habits; overstep
the diffidence of thy years and condition; stand and speak fearlessly in
the presence of the great and dreaded?"
"Reverend Carmelite, I speak daily without fear, though not without awe,
to one more to be dreaded than any in Venice."
The monk looked in admiration at the gentle being, whose countenance
was glowing with the mild resolution of innocence and affection, and he
motioned for her to follow.
"We will go, then, before the proudest and the most fearful of earth,
should there be occasion," he resumed. "We will do our duty to both
parties, to the oppressor and the oppressed, that the sin of omission
lie not on our souls.
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