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

the bed of the young Zonavo. Her prayer-book, \vid<
rested on her knees, aud i i. of llio silence she
IP i- lii'.nl i'rom li:n, ID tim ', fixing her glances on licr il
ID divinu iliH \vi
On a table next the bad was placed a statue of the I;
tieni. :L!i,l :
Virgin ami a rich ivoxy crucifix a souvenir of belt: >
The portrait of Victor's mo! her iv: ied at the foot of the crucifix
; thus the young man had phiend tho purest and most
ardent of las earthly affections under tho protection of tho
cross.
Suddenly ho moved, arid her head.
Nunziata, closing her book, raised
" Do you wish for anything, Victor ?
1
What can I do for you?'
she asked with visible solicitude.
" I don't wish for anything," he replied.
A DOW 4S
" No, absolutely
nothing, unless that you should mako yourself more easy.
Why so much sadness and tears, my poor Nuuztata ?"
"Alas!" she replied, " can you ask me? Can I forget the
name, the crime of him who has put you in that state, Victor?"
" Always the same fancies, the same imaginings ! Banish
those sad thoughts from your mind Nunziata, I entreat, unless
you wish to make me very unhappy."
The poor girl made no reply to those kind words, only, bow-
ing down her head, she began to weep.
"You distress me very much, my poor Nunziata," he continued
sadly.
" But, Victor," she resumed, in the midst of her sobs, " how
can I help crying, when I see you perishing, languishing, and
suffering thus ? Wasn't he my brother, my own brother, he
whose resentment, whose ferocious hatred pursued you to the
death ? Wasn't it his hand that struck you struck yon to
death perhaps 'i Haven't I reason then to weep and suffer,
thinking that he whom I loved so tenderly on this earth has
thus persecuted and stricken down an innocent and noble defender
of God and Holy Church, and that at the very moraent
he had committed that dreadful crime he was summoned to
appear before his Creator and his angry Judge."
And as she spoke, Nunziata bowed her head, and again
burst into tears. Victor, who heard her in silence, first gave
her time to grow calm.
" Nunziata," said he at last with the utmost gentleness, " I
repeat, your affliction is too acute and certainly unfounded.
Why do your dread the sentence, the rigor of an inexorable
Judge ? Haven't I described to you the repentance, the profound
sorrow of poor Gennaro in his last moments ? I have
no fears for his soul, for he died, in my arms, contrite and penitent,
and the mercy of the Lord is sovereign and infinite. Believe
me that the God of goodness has not granted him the
grace of repentance in vain. Gennaro dead to earth, now lives
the life of heaven; he has led me to you. Don't let his death afflict
you, Nunziata, and tne thought of eternal justice make
you tremble ! Would you, then, weakly despairing of your
brother's repentance and salvation, place in doubt the
sovereign power and infinite goodness of sus?"
your Saviour Je-
Here the exhausted invalid broke off for a moment. Nunziata
then raised her head, which, until then, she had covered
with her hands, and a smile of hope and consolation played
over her pure features in the very midst of her tears.
"
Certainly," continued the generous Victor, "your brother
he may have committed faults, errors, but
may have fallen ;
his repentance, his profound and sincere contrition have certainly
effaced them. Oh ! if you had seen him as I saw him
then weeping for the faults, the errors of his life, and im-
ploring God's grace and paternal mercy, and begging your par-
don and Stefano's, you'd be as sure of his eternal salvation as
I am myself. . No, no, be assured, poor sorrowing sister, Gen-
naro, the child of so many tears, so many vows and prayers,
can't be lost, can't be damned."
"O Victor, good Victor," replied the youug girl with a sigh
of gratitude, "you are really good and merciful as a saint, an
I of God."
" You've iuld me HO already, but I know only too we
away that, am! only try, ffl Or ilis-
sight of yo
ides, to appear mori Joyful. I- iw that tho
rr.iich '!"
seemed to have re-
who Bnttheyonng girl ;
lapsed into a profound mil-tic 1
<
,
"
What's the m (hi i V" pur mil Victor.
" Have I,
then. yon in vain. Xiin/iata '