“That answer was such, as might have been expected from one, by whom the licentious Luprian was held in as much abhorrence, as virtue was held dear and idolized. She asserted the indissoluble nature of his vows to religion, and repaid his tender speeches with such scorn, that he left her with a threat never to repeat his offer, but to suffer her to perish of hunger without compassion or remorse. But the captive was too dear to him to permit his keeping that resolution. He tormented her with frequent visits, and desisted not from his fruitless endeavours to reconcile her to his plans; though to her great satisfaction he was latterly compelled to abstain from entering her dungeon. A suspicion existed, that considerable treasures were buried among the ruins of the Monastery; it was therefore judged prudent to place sentinels about them, and thus was the execrable Monk debarred all intercourse with his prisoner, except such as could be carried on by favour of the iron grating. “Luprian now found it absolutely necessary for him to visit Italy, where he had deposited the chief part of his wealth. He entrusted the care of the lady to his sole Confident. As his absence was protracted longer than he had himself expected, she enjoyed some respite from his infamous addresses, and was not without hopes, that her entreaties and sufferings would at last induce his representative to take some steps towards effecting her deliverance. Those hopes however were continually disappointed. His heart was not more flexible than his associate’s; he remained immutably faithful to the trust reposed in him; and in answer to her enquiries respecting the transactions of the regions above her, he gave her such accounts of the successes of her enemies and of the destruction of all those who were dear to her, as almost extinguished her anxiety to escape from her dungeon. She saw, that nothing but sorrow would welcome her return to liberty, and the natural love of life struggled but faintly against the certainty of present sufferings, and the apprehension of those, which were still to come.