Pagina 1031 de 1118

"It is true. Now that you make me think of it, I have not tasted

any thing to-day."

"Wait, then, a moment." He soon brought Renzo a bowl of broth,

from a large kettle, the common property of the establishment,

and making him sit down on his bed, the only seat his cabin

afforded, and placing some wine on a little table by his side, he

seated himself next him. "Now tell me about my poor child," said

he, "and be in haste, for time is precious, and I have much to

do, as you perceive."

Renzo related the history of Lucy; that she had been sheltered in

the convent of Monza, and carried off from her asylum. At the

idea of such treatment and peril, and at the thought, too, that

it was he who had unwittingly exposed her to it, the good friar

was breathless with attention; but he recovered his tranquillity

when he heard of her miraculous deliverance, her restoration to

her mother, and her having been placed under the protection of

Donna Prassede.