Fabiola : or, The church of the catacombs - Digital Repository Services

CHAPTER III.
"On ! tl' r Him to my
's lust prayer .
w::s her first on arriving at Uramuoro Gust e. Her troubles,
in fact, seemed about to commence just where most little
;es of romance find a termination to theirs that is to say,
in a loving protectress aad a magnificent home.
Not that she had felt positively unhappy during the journey ;
her feelings had been rather stunned than excited by tlie sudden
change in her position; she, could not perfectly understand
dity, or Comprehend how it was that i\ few days before she
had been the grandchild of a poor water vender, and now stood
precisely in the same relationship to a lady ranking among tho
richest and noblest iu the land. Neither did she imagine
herself BO entirely separated, as in truth she was, from all she
loved and caved for upon earth. She would revisit Italy ; so
she would sit
Lady Orauuiore had promised her grandmother ;
once uipre beside Beuita, near her orange-shaded fountain ;
. .mid kneel with Francesco before the altar of the Blessed
Sacrament a: id then ; nothing, she knew, could separate her
from Jesus His altars were ; everywhere, and He was everywhere
011 His altars ; and never did she p:;ss a single day dur-
ing their journey without seeking Him th iv.
Long before Lady Oranmore or her attendants were awake,
Aguese was on her way to the church of the town or village m
which they had spent the night. And for this happiness she
was indebted to the unerring sagacity of Perletta, who knew
her wishes quite as well as she did herself. Sbe had only to
say,
"Alia chiesa ! alia chiesa !" and Perletta looked to the
right and looked to the left, pricked up her ears, and set off
drrectly in the direction iu which the church bells were ringing
; nor did she ever fail in the object of her search. Sooner
or later the church was found, and the blind child conducted
through the gates, arid along the aisle, and up even to the very
rails of the sanctuary ; and there Perletta would c:jil herself
comfortably up into a little round ball, and full fast asl ep ;
while Aguese, on her part, reverently knelt down to pray, l.y
the modesty of her attitude and the tenderness of her devotion
unconsciously preaching the sweet Jesus to all who saw her.
It cannot be supposed that Lady Oranmore particularly
fancied these lonely expeditious, yet she did not forbid them,
because unwilling to commence her guardianship by such a
disagreeable act of authority and ; finding, at last, that Agneso
always returned without accident, she took c-mndence in the
good guidance of Perletta, and lost all her anxieties on the subject,
if indeed, she did not forget it altogether. Her memory,
however, was suddenly refreshed by a rather unpleasant incident
which took place on their arrival at Dover. They had
only landed the night before, but, though feeling sick and giddy
from the rough sea voyage, Aguese could not resolve upon
iivmg up her visit to the church, so she rose early, mid de-
scending into the street, shook the ribbon round Perletta 's
neck, and said, as usual, "Alia chiesa ! alia chiesa !"
Alasforpoor Perletta \ Forocce her sagacity wascompletely
at fault. She had hith' rto always had a clue to her destina-
tion iu the ringing of the bells, the thronging of the people
without, the low murmur of prayer within ; but now in vain t ho
.1 the air, in vain she ran backwards and forwards, up the
street and down the street. The poor dog was completely be-
wildered. It is true she came to a church, but the doors
closed; the bells were silent; not a creature was
near it. Perletta was not used to see deserted
lingering
churches, so she very naturally passed it by. Her next essay
was the market-pl.sce. Tin re was plenty of people here, and
something more than the murmur of voices among its buyers
and .sellers. But Perletta understood markets quite as well a-i
she did churches; and being a dog of sagacity, she knew that
.as not precisely what Agnese wanted; and therefore she
[ on untilslie arrived at the theatre. It so happened
that ;i T was to perform there that night, and
hundreds of people v. (he doors to secure
places. Perletta begun to think she was right ILL lime,
I) ut a kick from an i
their \\;.y bl
this time t;
there that day.
i-ror, ar.d howling with p..
What wo>
trotted up the steps, :n:d fi.,
tedly coiled herself up at lh.
AgnoKi- intelligibly to iindi rstand thi
her mission, and would go no further. The bl.iul cl.iid took
tin 1 hint and sat down on the steps, resoH
til the, church should be opened. Hut miiiuli- after D
passed away and no one < .me. And now tin- began to . luver
p..
i r
in the cold; yet, porimps.
theunaccustonie.i rawness of a British morning whic
tremble; there was a vagi:
<
falling around her,
seenu d to penetrate and chill her very h art. It. was t-o y'.
to her that a church should be then-, ami no one to en;
that the bell should bo tolling, and i.o < me
the summons. Poor Agnese !
she
be found ti>
( hi
was not much of a phil-
osopher, I am afraid, for at last, finding herself dis'ipj"
in her Lopes, she could scarcely tell wherefore, she p
arms round the neck of her faithful I'erletta, and burst into
tears. Her foreign dress, her desolate attitude, tin- dog, which
everywhere betrayed the secret of her blindness, coon drew n.
crowd around her; and innumerable were the conjectures, some
in jest and some in earnest, elicited by her singular appearance.
" Who is she? What is she ? Has she lost anybody, <
anybody lost her?" Sometimes the spectators adeir
queries to Agnese, sometimes to each other. The child grew
every moment more bewildered. She i'i It the crowd (
p.
heavily around her she heard their ; questions, though who
could not understand their import. And onco she