ngs. In spite of all their tenderness her anguish was too
poignant to be soon allayed; and from that fatal night, she continued to
live the life of a recluse under the protection of her parents.

Rodolfo meanwhile having returned home, and having missed the crucifix,
guessed who had taken it, but gave himself no concern about it. To a
person of his wealth such a loss was of no importance; nor did his
parents make any inquiry about it, when three days afterwards, on his
departure for Italy, one of his mother's women took an inventory of all
the effects he left in his apartment. Rodolfo had long contemplated a
visit to Italy; and his father, who himself had been there, encouraged
him in that design, telling him that no one could be a finished
gentleman without seeing foreign countries. For this and other reasons,
Rodolfo readily complied with the wishes of his father, who gave him
ample letters of credit on Barcelona, Genoa, Rome, and Naples. Taking
with him two of his companions, he set out on his travels, with
expectations raised to a high pitch, by what he had been told by some
soldiers of his acquaintance, concerning the good cheer in the
hostelries of Italy and France, and the free and easy life enjoyed by
the Spaniards in their quarters. His ears were tickled with the sound of
such phrases as these: _ecco li buoni polastri_, _picioni_, _presuto_,
_salcicie_, and all the other fine things of the sort, which soldiers
are fond of calling to mind when they return from those parts to Spain.
In fine, he went away with as little thought or concern about what had
passed between him and the beautiful Leocadia as though it had never
happened. She meanwhile passed her life with her parents in the
strictest retirement, never letting herself be seen, but shunning every
eye lest it should read her misfortune in her face. What she had thus
done voluntarily at first, she found herself, in a few months,
constrained to do by necessity; for she discovered that she was
pregnant, to the grievous renewal of her affliction.

Time rolled on: the hour of her delivery arrived: it took place in the
utmost secrecy, her mother taking upon her the office of midwife: and
she gave birth to a son, one of the most beautiful ever seen. The babe
was conveyed, with the same secrecy, to a village, where he remained
till he was four years old, when his grandfather brought him, under the
name of nephew, to his own house, where he was reared, if not in
af