little court of the convent eagerly
entreating the Princess to look favourably on their sufferings. These
facts--at first only whispered--at length gained the ears of Rome, and
priests and cardinals began to feel that out of this trifling incident
grave consequences might arise, and counsel was held among them whether
this dangerous foreigner should not be summarily sent out of the State.

The decision would, doubtless, have been quickly come to had it not been
that at the very moment an infant child of the Prince Altieri owed its
life to a suggestion made by the Egyptian, to whom a mere lock of the
child's hair was given. Sorcery or not, here was a service that could
not be overlooked; and, as the Prince Altieri was one whose influence
spread widely, the thought of banishment was abandoned.

The Pere Massoni, who paid at first but little attention to the stories
of her wondrous powers, was at length astonished on hearing from the
Professor Danizetti some striking instances of her skill, which seemed,
however, less that of a consummate physician than of one who had studied
the mysterious influences of the moral oyer the material part of our
nature. It was in estimating how far the mind swayed and controlled the
nervous system, whether they acted in harmony or discordance, seemed
her great gift; and to such a degree of perfection had she brought her
powers in this respect, that the tones of a voice, the expression of an
eye, and the texture of the hair, appeared often sufficient to intimate
the fate of the sick man. Danizetti confessed, that, though long a
sceptic as to her powers, he could no longer resist the force of what he
witnessed, and owned that in her art were secrets unrevealed to science.

He had made great efforts to see and to know her, but in vain; indeed
she did not scruple to confess, that for medicine and its regular
followers, she had slight respect. She deemed them as walkers in the
dark, and utterly lost to the only lights which could elucidate disease.
Through the Prince Altieri's intervention, for he had met her in the
East, she consented to visit the Jesuit College, somewhat proud, it must
be owned, to storm, as it were, the very stronghold of that incredulity
which priestcraft professed for her abilities. For this reason was it
she insisted that her visit should be paid in open day--at noon. 'I will
see none but the sick man.' said she, 'and yet all shall mark my coming,
and perceive that even t