But Will, as I have said, was not imaginative; and I think in his soul, having been very well brought up by his mother, he hated the whole thing as Popish. He would not even be amused as I was at a confession that was going on at the other side of the door from us, where a lady, evidently of high rank, dressed in the hooded kind of mantle of black silk not unlike a domino, common in Sicily, was pouring out her heart, as we could tell by the sobs which shook her slender figure, through the perforated panel of the confessional, to a comfortable old priest, who was paying the very slightest heed to her, and most of the time carrying on with another priest a conversation which produced more than one smile. The lady, as she knelt on the broad steps of the confessional, with her arms flung upwards, like the Magdalene embracing the Cross, and the graceful line of her straight young back carried along the fall of the rich mantle to the floor at the foot of the steps, made a most charming picture. I heard the Admiral tell My Lady that he had quite lost his heart to the pretty sinner--a term by which I feel sure he meant no irreverence, for it was not in the nature of the Admiral to be irreverent to a woman; and, least of all, to a woman in distress. Presently the fair incognita rose; and casting, as even the recently confessed will, an eye on the little group of bright uniforms and My Lady's rich dress, gave such a start that she almost fell. Perhaps it was faintness; at any rate it displaced her hood, and we recognised Donna Rusidda. She made a step towards us, then suddenly turned, and passed swiftly through the door. My Lady, knowing of Will's attachment, which she believed to be reciprocated, with the generous warmth characteristic of her, at once got up, and made signs to Will that we were all going, and that he should hasten and overtake the Princess. Will was out in almost one bound over the polished marble floor, but all trace of her had disappeared. She had slipped into some door leading to the private apartments. My Lady's good-nature did not end here; for deeming that Will would like to stay on the chance of the lady returning, as ladies will who have a lover loitering, she spoke to the officer who was for the night in command of the central quadrangle and galleries, from which the rooms of the Palace open off. He understood the situation perfectly, and made Will free of the guard-room if he grew tired of pacing.