mountains to Assunto, the convent is invisible, a gnarled and ragged

olive grove intervening, and a spur of cliffs as well, while from

Palermo one sees only the speck of white, flashing in the sun,

indistinguishable from the many similar gleams of desert monastery or

pauper village.



Partly because of this seclusion, partly by reason of its extreme

beauty, partly, it may be, because the present owners are more than

charming and gracious in their pressing hospitality, Sta. Catarina seems

to preserve an element of the poetic, almost magical; and as I drove

with the Cavaliere Valguanera one evening in March out of Palermo, along

the garden valley of the Oreto, then up the mountain side where the warm

light of the spring sunset swept across from Monreale, lying golden and

mellow on the luxuriant growth of figs, and olives, and orange-trees,

and fantastic cacti, and so up to where the path of the convent swung

off to the right round a dizzy point of cliff that reached out gaunt and

gray from the olives below,--as I drove thus in the balmy air, and saw

of a sudden a vision of creamy walls and orange roofs, draped in

fantastic festoons of roses, with a single curving palm-tree stuck black

and feathery against the gold sunset, it is hardly to be wondered at

that I should slip into a mood of visionary enjoyment, looking for a

time on the whole thing as the misty phantasm of a summer dream.



The Cavaliere had introduced himself to us,--Tom Rendel and me,--one

morning soon after we reached Palermo, when, in the first bewilderment

of architects in this paradise of art and color, we were working nobly

at our sketches in that dream of delight, the Capella Palatina. He was

himself an amateur archaeologist, he told us, and passionately devoted to

his island; so he felt impelled to speak to any one whom he saw

appreciating the almost--and in a way fortunately--unknown beauties of

Palermo. In a little time we were fully acquainted, and talking like the

oldest friends. Of course he knew acquaintances of Rendel's,--some one

always does: this time they were officers on the tubby U. S. S.

"Quinebaug," that, during the summer of 1888, was trying to uphold the

maritime honor of the United States in European waters. Luckily for us,

one of the officers was a kind of cousin of Rendel's, and came from

Baltimore as well, so, as he had visited at the Cavaliere's place, we

were soon invited to do the same. It was in this way that, with the luck

that attends Rendel wherever he goes, we came to see something of

domestic life in Italy, and that I found myself involved in another of

those adventures for which I naturally sought so little.



I wonder if there is any other place in Sicily so faultless as Sta.

Catarina? Taormina is a paradise, an epitome of all that is beautiful in

Italy,--Venice excepted. Girgenti is a solemn epic, with its golden

temples between the sea and hills. Cefalu is wild and strange, and

Monreale a vision out of a fairy tale; but Sta. Catarina!--



Fancy a convent of creamy stone and rose-red brick perched on a ledge of

rock midway between earth and heaven, the cliff falling almost sheer to

the valley two hundred feet and more, the mountain rising behind

straight towards the sky; all the rocks covered with cactus and dwarf

fig-trees, the convent draped in smothering roses, and in front a

terrace with a fountain in the midst; and then--nothing--between you and

the sapphire sea, six miles away. Below stretches the Eden valley, the

Concha d'Oro, gold-green fig orchards alternating with smoke-blue

olives, the mountains rising on either hand and sinking undulously away

towards the bay where, like a magic city of ivory and nacre, Palermo

lies guarded by the twin mountains, Monte Pellegrino and Capo Zafferano,

arid rocks like dull amethysts, rose in sunlight, violet in shadow:

lions couchant, guarding the sleeping town.



Seen as we saw it for the first time that hot evening in March, with the

golden lambent light pouring down through the valley, making it in

verity a "shell of gold," sitting in Indian chairs on the terrace, with

the perfume of roses and jasmines all around us, the valley of the

Oreto, Palermo, Sta. Catarina, Monreale,--all were but parts of a dreamy

vision, like the heavenly city of Sir Percivale, to attain which he

passed across the golden bridge that burned after him as he vanished in

the intolerable light of the Beatific Vision.



It was all so unreal, so phantasmal, that I was not surprised in the

least when, late in the evening after the ladies had gone to their

rooms, and the Cavaliere, Tom, and I were stretched out in chairs on the

terrace, smoking lazily under the multitudinous stars, the Cavaliere

said, "There is something I really must tell you both before you go to

bed, so that you may be spared any unnecessary alarm."



"You are going to say that the place is haunted," said Rendel, feeling

vaguely on the floor beside him for his glass of Amaro: "thank you; it

is all it needs."



The Cavaliere smiled a little: "Yes, that is just it. Sta. Catarina is

really haunted; and much as my reason revolts against the idea as

superstitious and savoring of priestcraft, yet I must acknowledge I see

no way of avoiding the admission. I do not presume to offer any

explanations, I only state the fact; and the fact is that to-night one

or other of you will, in all human--or unhuman--probability, receive a

visit from Sister Maddelena. You need not be in the least afraid, the

apparition is perfectly gentle and harmless; and, moreover, having seen

it once, you will never see it again. No one sees the ghost, or whatever

it is, but once, and that usually the first night he spends in the

house. I myself saw the thing eight--nine years ago, when I first bought

the place from the Marchese di Muxaro; all my people have seen it,

nearly all my guests, so I think you may as well be prepared."



"Then tell us what to expect," I said; "what kind of a ghost is this

nocturnal visitor?"



"It is simple enough. Some time to-night you will suddenly awake and see

before you a Carmelite nun who will look fixedly at you, say distinctly

and very sadly, 'I cannot sleep,' and then vanish. That is all, it is

hardly worth speaking of, only some people are terribly frightened if

they are visited unwarned by strange apparitions; so I tell you this

that you may be prepared."



"This was a Carmelite convent, then?" I said.



"Yes; it was suppressed after the unification of Italy, and given to the

House of Muxaro; but the family died out, and I bought it. There is a

story about the ghostly nun, who was only a novice, and even that

unwillingly, which gives an interest to an otherwise very commonplace

and uninteresting ghost."



"I beg that you will tell it us," cried Rendel.



"There is a storm coming," I added. "See, the lightning is flashing

already up among the mountains at the head of the valley; if the story

is tragic, as it must be, now is just the time for it. You will tell it,

will you not?"



The Cavaliere smiled that slow, cryptic smile of his that was so

unfathomable.



"As you say, there is a shower coming, and as we have fierce tempests

here, we might not sleep; so perhaps we may as well sit up a little

longer, and I will tell you the story."



The air was utterly still, hot and oppressive; the rich, sick odor of

the oranges just bursting into bloom came up from the valley in a gently

rising tide. The sky, thick with stars, seemed mirrored in the rich

foliage below, so numerous were the glow-worms under the still trees,

and the fireflies that gleamed in the hot air. Lightning flashed

fitfully from the darkening west; but as yet no thunder broke the heavy

silence.



The Cavaliere lighted another cigar, and pulled a cushion under his head

so that he could look down to the distant lights of the city. "This is

the story," he said.



"Once upon a time, late in the last century, the Duca di Castiglione was

attached to the court of Charles III., King of the Two Sicilies, down at

Palermo. They tell me he was very ambitious, and, not content with

marrying his son to one of the ladies of the House of Tuscany, had

betrothed his only daughter, Rosalia, to Prince Antonio, a cousin of the

king. His whole life was wrapped up in the fame of his family, and he

quite forgot all domestic affection in his madness for dynastic glory.

His son was a worthy scion, cold and proud; but Rosalia was, according

to legend, utterly the reverse,--a passionate, beautiful girl, wilful

and headstrong, and careless of her family and the world.



"The time had nearly come for her to marry Prince Antonio, a typical

roue of the Spanish court, when, through the treachery of a servant,

the Duke discovered that his daughter was in love with a young military

officer whose name I don't remember, and that an elopement had been

planned to take place the next night. The fury and dismay of the old

autocrat passed belief; he saw in a flash the downfall of all his hopes

of family aggrandizement through union with the royal house, and,

knowing well the spirit of his daughter, despaired of ever bringing her

to subjection. Nevertheless, he attacked her unmercifully, and, by

bullying and threats, by imprisonment, and even bodily chastisement, he

tried to break her spirit and bend her to his indomitable will. Through

his power at court he had the lover sent away to the mainland, and for

more than a year he held his daughter closely imprisoned in his palace

on the Toledo,--that one, you may remember, on the right, just beyond

the Via del Collegio dei Gesuiti, with the beautiful iron-work grilles

at all the windows, and the painted frieze. But nothing could move her,

nothing bend her stubborn will; and at last, furious at the girl he

could not govern, Castiglione sent her to this convent, then one of the

few houses of barefoot Carmelite nuns in Italy. He stipulated that she

should take the name of Maddelena, that he should never hear of her

again, and that she should be held an absolute prisoner in this

conventual castle.



"Rosalia--or Sister Maddelena, as she was now--believed her lover dead,

for her father had given her good proofs of this, and she believed him;

nevertheless she refused to marry another, and seized upon the convent

life as a blessed relief from the tyranny of her maniacal father.



"She lived here for four or five years; her name was forgotten at court

and in her father's palace. Rosalia di Castiglione was dead, and only

Sister Maddelena lived, a Carmelite nun, in her place.



"In 1798 Ferdinand IV. found himself driven from his throne on the

mainland, his kingdom divided, and he himself forced to flee to Sicily.

With him came the lover of the dead Rosalia, now high in military honor.

He on his part had thought Rosalia dead, and it was only by accident

that he found that she still lived, a Carmelite nun. Then began the

second act of the romance that until then had been only sadly

commonplace, but now became dark and tragic. Michele--Michele

Biscari,--that was his name; I remember now--haunted the region of the

convent, striving to communicate with Sister Maddelena; and at last,

from the cliffs over us, up there among the citrons--you will see by the

next flash of lightning--he saw her in the great cloister, recognized

her in her white habit, found her the same dark and splendid beauty of

six years before, only made more beautiful by her white habit and her

rigid life. By and by he found a day when she was alone, and tossed a

ring to her as she stood in the midst of the cloister. She looked up,

saw him, and from that moment lived only to love him in life as she had

loved his memory in the death she had thought had overtaken him.



"With the utmost craft they arranged their plans together. They could

not speak, for a word would have aroused the other inmates of the

convent. They could make signs only when Sister Maddelena was alone.

Michele could throw notes to her from the cliff,--a feat demanding a

strong arm, as you will see, if you measure the distance with your

eye,--and she could drop replies from the window over the cliff, which

he picked up at the bottom. Finally he succeeded in casting into the

cloister a coil of light rope. The girl fastened it to the bars of one

of the windows, and--so great is the madness of love--Biscari actually

climbed the rope from the valley to the window of the cell, a distance

of almost two hundred feet, with but three little craggy resting-places

in all that height. For nearly a month these nocturnal visits were

undiscovered, and Michele had almost completed his arrangements for

carrying the girl from Sta. Catarina and away to Spain, when

unfortunately one of the sisters, suspecting some mystery, from the

changed face of Sister Maddelena, began investigating, and at length

discovered the rope neatly coiled up by the nun's window, and hidden

under some clinging vines. She instantly told the Mother Superior; and

together they watched from a window in the crypt of the chapel,--the

only place, as you will see to-morrow, from which one could see the

window of Sister Maddelena's cell. They saw the figure of Michele

daringly ascending the slim rope; watched hour after hour, the Sister

remaining while the Superior went to say the hours in the chapel, at

each of which Sister Maddelena was present; and at last, at prime, just

as the sun was rising, they saw the figure slip down the rope, watched

the rope drawn up and concealed, and knew that Sister Maddelena was in

their hands for vengeance and punishment,--a criminal.



"The next day, by the order of the Mother Superior, Sister Maddelena was

imprisoned in one of the cells under the chapel, charged with her guilt,

and commanded to make full and complete confession. But not a word would

she say, although they offered her forgiveness if she would tell the

name of her lover. At last the Superior told her that after this fashion

would they act the coming night: she herself would be placed in the

crypt, tied in front of the window, her mouth gagged; that the rope

would be lowered, and the lover allowed to approach even to the sill of

her window, and at that moment the rope would be cut, and before her

eyes her lover would be dashed to death on the ragged cliffs. The plan

was feasible, and Sister Maddelena knew that the Mother was perfectly

capable of carrying it out. Her stubborn spirit was broken, and in the

only way possible; she begged for mercy, for the sparing of her lover.

The Mother Superior was deaf at first; at last she said, 'It is your

life or his. I will spare him on condition that you sacrifice your own

life.' Sister Maddelena accepted the terms joyfully, wrote a last

farewell to Michele, fastened the note to the rope, and with her own

hands cut the rope and saw it fall coiling down to the valley bed far

below.



"Then she silently prepared for death; and at midnight, while her lover

was wandering, mad with the horror of impotent fear, around the white

walls of the convent, Sister Maddelena, for love of Michele, gave up her

life. How, was never known. That she was indeed dead was only a

suspicion, for when Biscari finally compelled the civil authorities to

enter the convent, claiming that murder had been done there, they found

no sign. Sister Maddelena had been sent to the parent house of the

barefoot Carmelites at Avila in Spain, so the Superior stated, because

of her incorrigible contumacy. The old Duke of Castiglione refused to

stir hand or foot in the matter, and Michele, after fruitless attempts

to prove that the Superior of Sta. Catarina had caused the death, was

forced to leave Sicily. He sought in Spain for very long; but no sign of

the girl was to be found, and at last he died, exhausted with suffering

and sorrow.



"Even the name of Sister Maddelena was forgotten, and it was not until

the convents were suppressed, and this house came into the hands of the

Muxaros, that her story was remembered. It was then that the ghost began

to appear; and, an explanation being necessary, the story, or legend,

was obtained from one of the nuns who still lived after the suppression.

I think the fact--for it is a fact--of the ghost rather goes to prove

that Michele was right, and that poor Rosalia gave her life a sacrifice

for love,--whether in accordance with the terms of the legend or not, I

cannot say. One or the other of you will probably see her to-night. You

might ask her for the facts. Well, that is all the story of Sister

Maddelena, known in the world as Rosalia di Castiglione. Do you like

it?"



"It is admirable," said Rendel, enthusiastically. "But I fancy I should

rather look on it simply as a story, and not as a warning of what is

going to happen. I don't much fancy real ghosts myself."



"But the poor Sister is quite harmless;" and Valguanera rose, stretching

himself. "My servants say she wants a mass said over her, or something

of that kind; but I haven't much love for such priestly hocus-pocus,--I

beg your pardon" (turning to me), "I had forgotten that you were a

Catholic: forgive my rudeness."



"My dear Cavaliere, I beg you not to apologize. I am sorry you cannot

see things as I do; but don't for a moment think I am hypersensitive."



"I have an excuse,--perhaps you will say only an explanation; but I live

where I see all the absurdities and corruptions of the Church."



"Perhaps you let the accidents blind you to the essentials; but do not

let us quarrel to-night,--see, the storm is close on us. Shall we go

in?"



The stars were blotted out through nearly all the sky; low, thunderous

clouds, massed at the head of the valley, were sweeping over so close

that they seemed to brush the black pines on the mountain above us. To

the south and east the storm-clouds had shut down almost to the sea,

leaving a space of black sky where the moon in its last quarter was

rising just to the left of Monte Pellegrino,--a black silhouette against

the pallid moonlight. The rosy lightning flashed almost incessantly, and

through the fitful darkness came the sound of bells across the valley,

the rushing torrent below, and the dull roar of the approaching rain,

with a deep organ point of solemn thunder through it all.



We fled indoors from the coming tempest, and taking our candles, said

"good-night," and sought each his respective room.



My own was in the southern part of the old convent, giving on the

terrace we had just quitted, and about over the main doorway. The

rushing storm, as it swept down the valley with the swelling torrent

beneath, was very fascinating, and after wrapping myself in a

dressing-gown I stood for some time by the deeply embrasured window,

watching the blazing lightning and the beating rain whirled by fitful

gusts of wind around the spurs of the mountains. Gradually the violence

of the shower seemed to decrease, and I threw myself down on my bed in

the hot air, wondering if I really was to experience the ghostly visit

the Cavaliere so confidently predicted.



I had thought out the whole matter to my own satisfaction, and fancied I

knew exactly what I should do, in case Sister Maddelena came to visit

me. The story touched me: the thought of the poor faithful girl who

sacrificed herself for her lover,--himself, very likely, quite

unworthy,--and who now could never sleep for reason of her unquiet soul,

sent out into the storm of eternity without spiritual aid or counsel. I

could not sleep; for the still vivid lightning, the crowding thoughts of

the dead nun, and the shivering anticipation of my possible visitation,

made slumber quite out of the question. No suspicion of sleepiness had

visited me, when, perhaps an hour after midnight, came a sudden vivid

flash of lightning, and, as my dazzled eyes began to regain the power of

sight, I saw her as plainly as in life,--a tall figure, shrouded in the

white habit of the Carmelites, her head bent, her hands clasped before

her. In another flash of lightning she slowly raised her head and looked

at me long and earnestly. She was very beautiful, like the Virgin of

Beltraffio in the National Gallery,--more beautiful than I had supposed

possible, her deep, passionate eyes very tender and pitiful in their

pleading, beseeching glance. I hardly think I was frightened, or even

startled, but lay looking steadily at her as she stood in the beating

lightning.



Then she breathed, rather than articulated, with a voice that almost

brought tears, so infinitely sad and sorrowful was it, "I cannot sleep!"

and the liquid eyes grew more pitiful and questioning as bright tears

fell from them down the pale dark face.



The figure began to move slowly towards the door, its eyes fixed on mine

with a look that was weary and almost agonized. I leaped from the bed

and stood waiting. A look of utter gratitude swept over the face, and,

turning, the figure passed through the doorway.



Out into the shadow of the corridor it moved, like a drift of pallid

storm-cloud, and I followed, all natural and instinctive fear or

nervousness quite blotted out by the part I felt I was to play in giving

rest to a tortured soul. The corridors were velvet black; but the pale

figure floated before me always, an unerring guide, now but a thin mist

on the utter night, now white and clear in the bluish lightning through

some window or doorway.



Down the stairway into the lower hall, across the refectory, where the

great frescoed Crucifixion flared into sudden clearness under the fitful

lightning, out into the silent cloister.



It was very dark. I stumbled along the heaving bricks, now guiding

myself by a hand on the whitewashed wall, now by a touch on a column wet

with the storm. From all the eaves the rain was dripping on to the

pebbles at the foot of the arcade: a pigeon, startled from the capital

where it was sleeping, beat its way into the cloister close. Still the

white thing drifted before me to the farther side of the court, then

along the cloister at right angles, and paused before one of the many

doorways that led to the cells.



A sudden blaze of fierce lightning, the last now of the fleeting trail

of storm, leaped around us, and in the vivid light I saw the white face

turned again with the look of overwhelming desire, of beseeching pathos,

that had choked my throat with an involuntary sob when first I saw

Sister Maddelena. In the brief interval that ensued after the flash, and

before the roaring thunder burst like the crash of battle over the

trembling convent, I heard again the sorrowful words, "I cannot sleep,"

come from the impenetrable darkness. And when the lightning came again,

the white figure was gone.



I wandered around the courtyard, searching in vain for Sister Maddelena,

even until the moonlight broke through the torn and sweeping fringes of

the storm. I tried the door where the white figure vanished: it was

locked; but I had found what I sought, and, carefully noting its

location, went back to my room, but not to sleep.



In the morning the Cavaliere asked Rendel and me which of us had seen

the ghost, and I told him my story; then I asked him to grant me

permission to sift the thing to the bottom; and he courteously gave the

whole matter into my charge, promising that he would consent to

anything.



I could hardly wait to finish breakfast; but no sooner was this done

than, forgetting my morning pipe, I started with Rendel and the

Cavaliere to investigate.



"I am sure there is nothing in that cell," said Valguanera, when we came

in front of the door I had marked. "It is curious that you should have

chosen the door of the very cell that tradition assigns to Sister

Maddelena; but I have often examined that room myself, and I am sure

that there is no chance for anything to be concealed. In fact, I had the

floor taken up once, soon after I came here, knowing the room was that

of the mysterious Sister, and thinking that there, if anywhere, the

monastic crime would have taken place; still, we will go in, if you

like."



He unlocked the door, and we entered, one of us, at all events, with a

beating heart. The cell was very small, hardly eight feet square. There

certainly seemed no opportunity for concealing a body in the tiny place;

and although I sounded the floor and walls, all gave a solid, heavy

answer,--the unmistakable sound of masonry.



For the innocence of the floor the Cavaliere answered. He had, he said,

had it all removed, even to the curving surfaces of the vault below; yet

somewhere in this room the body of the murdered girl was concealed,--of

this I was certain. But where? There seemed no answer; and I was

compelled to give up the search for the moment, somewhat to the

amusement of Valguanera, who had watched curiously to see if I could

solve the mystery.



But I could not forget the subject, and towards noon started on another

tour of investigation. I procured the keys from the Cavaliere, and

examined the cells adjoining; they were apparently the same, each with

its window opposite the door, and nothing-- Stay, were they the same? I

hastened into the suspected cell; it was as I thought: this cell, being

on the corner, could have had two windows, yet only one was visible, and

that to the left, at right angles with the doorway. Was it imagination?

As I sounded the wall opposite the door, where the other window should

be, I fancied that the sound was a trifle less solid and dull. I was

becoming excited. I dashed back to the cell on the right, and, forcing

open the little window, thrust my head out.



It was found at last! In the smooth surface of the yellow wall was a

rough space, following approximately the shape of the other cell

windows, not plastered like the rest of the wall, but showing the shapes

of bricks through its thick coatings of whitewash. I turned with a gasp

of excitement and satisfaction: yes, the embrasure of the wall was deep

enough; what a wall it was!--four feet at least, and the opening of the

window reached to the floor, though the window itself was hardly three

feet square. I felt absolutely certain that the secret was solved, and

called the Cavaliere and Rendel, too excited to give them an explanation

of my theories.



They must have thought me mad when I suddenly began scraping away at the

solid wall in front of the door; but in a few minutes they understood

what I was about, for under the coatings of paint and plaster appeared

the original bricks; and as my architectural knowledge had led me

rightly, the space I had cleared was directly over a vertical joint

between firm, workmanlike masonry on one hand, and rough amateurish work

on the other, bricks laid anyway, and without order or science.



Rendel seized a pick, and was about to assail the rude wall, when I

stopped him.



"Let us be careful," I said; "who knows what we may find?" So we set to

work digging out the mortar around a brick at about the level of our

eyes.



How hard the mortar had become! But a brick yielded at last, and with

trembling fingers I detached it. Darkness within, yet beyond question

there was a cavity there, not a solid wall; and with infinite care we

removed another brick. Still the hole was too small to admit enough

light from the dimly illuminated cell. With a chisel we pried at the

sides of a large block of masonry, perhaps eight bricks in size. It

moved, and we softly slid it from its bed.



Valguanera, who was standing watching us as we lowered the bricks to the

floor, gave a sudden cry, a cry like that of a frightened

woman,--terrible, coming from him. Yet there was cause.



Framed by the ragged opening of the bricks, hardly seen in the dim

light, was a face, an ivory image, more beautiful than any antique bust,

but drawn and distorted by unspeakable agony: the lovely mouth half

open, as though gasping for breath; the eyes cast upward; and below,

slim chiselled hands crossed on the breast, but clutching the folds of

the white Carmelite habit, torture and agony visible in every tense

muscle, fighting against the determination of the rigid pose.



We stood there breathless, staring at the pitiful sight, fascinated,

bewitched. So this was the secret. With fiendish ingenuity, the rigid

ecclesiastics had blocked up the window, then forced the beautiful

creature to stand in the alcove, while with remorseless hands and iron

hearts they had shut her into a living tomb. I had read of such things

in romance; but to find the verity here, before my eyes--



Steps came down the cloister, and with a simultaneous thought we sprang

to the door and closed it behind us. The room was sacred; that awful

sight was not for curious eyes. The gardener was coming to ask some

trivial question of Valguanera. The Cavaliere cut him short. "Pietro, go

down to Parco and ask Padre Stefano to come here at once." (I thanked

him with a glance.) "Stay!" He turned to me: "Signore, it is already two

o'clock and too late for mass, is it not?"



I nodded.



Valguanera thought a moment, then he said, "Bring two horses; the Signor

Americano will go with you,--do you understand?" Then, turning to me,

"You will go, will you not? I think you can explain matters to Padre

Stefano better than I."



"Of course I will go, more than gladly." So it happened that after a

hasty luncheon I wound down the mountain to Parco, found Padre Stefano,

explained my errand to him, found him intensely eager and sympathetic,

and by five o'clock had him back at the convent with all that was

necessary for the resting of the soul of the dead girl.



In the warm twilight, with the last light of the sunset pouring into the

little cell through the window where almost a century ago Rosalia had

for the last time said farewell to her lover, we gathered together to

speed her tortured soul on its journey, so long delayed. Nothing was

omitted; all the needful offices of the Church were said by Padre

Stefano, while the light in the window died away, and the flickering

flames of the candles carried by two of the acolytes from San Francesco

threw fitful flashes of pallid light into the dark recess where the

white face had prayed to Heaven for a hundred years.



Finally, the Padre took the asperge from the hands of one of the

acolytes, and with a sign of the cross in benediction while he chanted

the Asperges, gently sprinkled the holy water on the upturned face.

Instantly the whole vision crumbled to dust, the face was gone, and

where once the candlelight had flickered on the perfect semblance of the

girl dead so very long, it now fell only on the rough bricks which

closed the window, bricks laid with frozen hearts by pitiless hands.



But our task was not done yet. It had been arranged that Padre Stefano

should remain at the convent all night, and that as soon as midnight

made it possible he should say the first mass for the repose of the

girl's soul. We sat on the terrace talking over the strange events of

the last crowded hours, and I noted with satisfaction that the Cavaliere

no longer spoke of the Church with that hardness, which had hurt me so

often. It is true that the Padre was with us nearly all the time; but

not only was Valguanera courteous, he was almost sympathetic; and I

wondered if it might not prove that more than one soul benefited by the

untoward events of the day.



With the aid of the astonished and delighted servants, and no little

help as well from Signora Valguanera, I fitted up the long cold Altar in

the chapel, and by midnight we had the gloomy sanctuary beautiful with

flowers and candles. It was a curiously solemn service, in the first

hour of the new day, in the midst of blazing candles and the thick

incense, the odor of the opening orange-blooms drifting up in the fresh

morning air, and mingling with the incense smoke and the perfume of

flowers within. Many prayers were said that night for the soul of the

dead girl, and I think many afterwards; for after the benediction I

remained for a little time in my place, and when I rose from my knees

and went towards the chapel door, I saw a figure kneeling still, and,

with a start, recognized the form of the Cavaliere. I smiled with quiet

satisfaction and gratitude, and went away softly, content with the chain

of events that now seemed finished.



The next day the alcove was again walled up, for the precious dust could

not be gathered together for transportation to consecrated ground; so I

went down to the little cemetery at Parco for a basket of earth, which

we cast in over the ashes of Sister Maddelena.



By and by, when Rendel and I went away, with great regret, Valguanera

came down to Palermo with us; and the last act that we performed in

Sicily was assisting him to order a tablet of marble, whereon was

carved this simple inscription:--



HERE LIES THE BODY OF

ROSALIA DI CASTIGLIONI,

CALLED

SISTER MADDELENA.

HER SOUL

IS WITH HIM WHO GAVE IT.



To this I added in thought:--



"Let him that is without sin among you cast the first stone."