ices exclusively.

I immediately sat down to write to my dear recluse, intending at first to
write only a few lines, as she had requested me; but my time was too
short to write so little. My letter was a screed of four pages, and very
likely it said less than her note of one short page. I told her her
letter had saved my life, and asked her whether I could hope to see her.
I informed her that I had given a sequin to the messenger, that she would
find another for herself under the seal of my letter, and that I would
send her all the money she might want. I entreated her not to fail
writing every Wednesday, to be certain that her letters would never be
long enough to give me full particulars, not only of all she did, of all
she was allowed to do, but also of all her thoughts respecting her
release from imprisonment, and the overcoming of all the obstacles which
were in the way of our mutual happiness; for I was as much hers as she
was mine. I hinted to her the necessity of gaining the love of all the
nuns and boarders, but without taking them into her confidence, and of
shewing no dislike of her convent life. After praising her for the clever
manner in which she had contrived to write to me, in spite of superior
orders, I made her understand how careful she was to be to avoid being
surprised while she was writing, because in such a case her room would
certainly be searched and all her papers seized.

"Burn all my letters, darling," I added, "and recollect that you must go
to confession often, but without implicating our love. Share with me all
your sorrows, which interest me even more than your joys."

I sealed my letter in such a manner that no one could possibly guess that
there was a sequin hidden under the sealing wax, and I rewarded the
woman, promising her that I would give her the same reward every time
that she brought me a letter from my friend. When she saw the sequin
which I had put in her hand the good woman cried for joy, and she told me
that, as the gates of the convent were never closed for her, she would
deliver my letter the moment she found the young lady alone.

Here is the note which C---- C---- had given to the woman, with the letter
addressed to me:

"God Himself, my good woman, prompts me to have confidence in you rather
than in anybody else. Take this letter to Venice, and should the person
to whom it is addressed not be in the city, bring it back to me. You must
deliver it to that person himse