“But, Renzo, Renzo, you don’t think what you’re saying!  A promise to the Madonna—­a vow!”

“And I think better of the Madonna than you do, for I believe she doesn’t wish for promises that injure one’s fellow-creatures.  Promise her that our first daughter shall be called Maria, for that I’m willing to promise, too.  That is a devotion that may have some use, and does no harm to anyone.”

“You don’t know what it is to make a vow.  Leave me, for heaven’s sake, and think no more about me—­except in your prayers!”

“Listen, Lucia!  Fra Cristoforo is here.  I spoke with him but a short while ago, while I was searching for you, and he told me that I did right to come and look for you; and that the Lord would approve my acting so, and would surely help me to find you, which has come to pass.”

“But if he said so, he didn’t know------”

“How should he know of things you’ve done out of your own head, and without the advice of a priest?  A good man, as he is, would never think of things of this kind.  And he spoke, too, like a saint.  He said that perhaps God designed to show mercy to that poor fellow, for so I must now call him, Don Rodrigo, who is now in this place, and waits to take him at the right moment, but wishes that we should pray for him together.  Together!  You hear?  He told me to go back and tell him whether I’d found you.  I’m going.  We’ll hear what he says.”

After a while, Renzo returned with Fra Cristoforo.  “My daughter,” said the father, “did you recollect, when you made that vow, that you were bound by another promise?”

“When it related to the Madonna?”

“My daughter, the Lord approves of offerings when we make them of our own.  It is the heart, the will that He desires.  But you could not offer Him the will of another, to Whom you had pledged yourself.”

“Have I done wrong?”

“No, my poor child.  But tell me, have you no other motive that hinders you from fulfilling your promise to Renzo?”

Lucia blushed crimson.  “Nothing else,” she whispered.

“Then, my child, you know that the Church has power to absolve you from your vow?”

“But, father, is it not a sin to turn back and repent of a promise made to the Madonna?  I made it at the time with my whole heart——­” said Lucia, violently agitated by so unexpected a hope.

“A sin?  A sin to have recourse to the Church, and to ask her minister to make use of the authority which he has received, through her, from God?  And if you request me to declare you absolved from this vow, I shall not hesitate to do it; nay, I wish that you may request me.”

“Then—­then—­I do request it!”

In an explicit voice the father then said, “By the authority I have received from the Church, I declare you absolved from the vow of virginity, and free you from every obligation you may thereby have contracted.  Beseech the Lord again for those graces you once besought to make you a holy wife; and rely on it, He will bestow them upon you after so many sorrows.”