“To her return to this prison was she indebted for existence. It was sunk so deep within the earth and so remote from the inhabited parts of the Convent, that she only had a slight suspicion from different circumstances, that something unusual was passing above her head. She was confirmed in this idea by several days elapsing without any nourishment being brought to her. She was reduced to the greatest extremity; and hunger would soon have put a period to her sufferings, when the prison-door was unlocked, and the Abbot entered. A cordial of great power, which he gave her, restored her strength sufficiently to enable her at length to comprehend the object of his visit. He first informed her of the events which had lately taken place, and then proceeded to propose to her the terms, on which she might obtain her liberty. —“It is universally believed,” said he, “that I, as well as the rest of my Order, have fallen a prey to the flames; I encourage this opinion, since it enables me with security to quit a profession, for which I am ill calculated, and which I have always held in detestation. I acknowledge it, my passion for you has hitherto been such, as you ought not to have complied with; but I now come to declare sentiments so pure, that you may safely listen to them without doing the least injury to your honour. I have rescued the Abbey-treasure from the ruins; I have also secured such considerable funds in other countries, as will enable me to support the establishment of a temporal prince in any place which you may prefer, provided it be one where my person is not known. Nothing is wanting to complete my happiness, except the possession of your hand, and I trust, you will not be so blind to your own advantage, as to reject my honourable suit. But one choice is allowed you; either you must perish in this dungeon, whose existence is now a secret to every human being except myself; or else you must take a solemn oath upon the cross to share my flight from Germany, and become my wife, as soon as we are safe in some foreign climate. There is no time for deliberation; the success of my plans depends upon their speedy execution, and you must instantly and at once pronounce the sentence, which decides both _your_ fate and my own.—I wait your answer.”—