Page:Manzoni - The Betrothed, 1834.djvu/448

 not long to remain in the world. Go! tell my mother that I am cured, that even here God has assisted me, that I have found a good soul, this worthy woman who has been a mother to me; tell her we shall meet when it is the will of God, and as it is his will. Go! for the love of Heaven! and remember me no moreexcept when you pray to God!"

And as if wishing to withdraw from the temptation to prolong the conversation, she drew near the bed where the female was lying of whom she had spoken.

"Hear me, Lucy, hear me!" said Renzo, without however approaching her.

"No, no; go away! for charity!"

"Hear me. Father Christopher"

"How!"

"He is here."

"Here! where? how do you know?"

"I have just spoken with him; a man like him it appears to me"

"He is here! to assist the afflicted, no doubt. Has he had the plague?"

"Ah! Lucy! I fear, I greatly fear" As Renzo hesitated to utter his fears, she had unconsciously again approached him, with a look of anxious enquiry "I fear he has it now!"

"Oh! poor man! But what do I say? poor man! he is rich, rich in the favour of God! How is he? Is he confined to his bed? Has he assistance?"

"He is, on the contrary, still assisting othersbut if you were to see him! Alas! there can be no mistake!"

"Oh! is he indeed within these walls?" said Lucy.

"Here, and not far off; hardly farther than from your cottage to mineif you remember"

"Oh! most holy Virgin!"

"Shall I tell you what he said to me? He said I did well to come in search of you, that God would approve it, and that he would assist me to find you Thus, then, you see"

"If he spoke thus, it was because he did not know—"

"What use would there be in his knowing a mere