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She therefore passed over in silence this important circumstance,

determining in her heart to communicate it first to Father

Christopher; but how great was her sorrow at learning that he was

no longer at the convent, that he had been sent to a distant

country, a country called--

"And Renzo?" enquired Agnes.

"He is in safety, is he not?" said Lucy, hastily.

"It must be so, since every one says so. They say that he has

certainly gone to Bergamo, but no one knows the place exactly,

and there has been no intelligence from himself. He probably has

not been able to find the means of informing us."

"Oh, if he is in safety, God be thanked!" said Lucy, commencing

another subject of conversation, which was, however, interrupted

by an unexpected event-the arrival of the cardinal archbishop.