a centre of action and mapped out our
organisation. Everybody agrees with me on the necessity for united
action. Europe seems to be ready for a complete change, but the
first great act must be done in Rome. I find encouragement
everywhere. The brotherly union of the peoples is going on. A
power stronger than brute force is sweeping through the world.

"Poor Bruno! You are no doubt right that pressure is being put
upon him to betray me. It is not for myself only that I am
troubled. It would be a lasting grief to me if his mind were
poisoned. Charles Minghelli being in prison in the disguise of a
prisoner means that anything may happen. When the man came to me
after his dismissal in London, it was to ask help to assassinate
the Baron. I refused it, and he went over to the other side. The
secret tribunal in which cases are prepared for public trial is a
hellish machine for cruelty and injustice. It has been abolished
in nearly every other civilised country, but the courts and jails
of our beautiful Italy continue to be the scene of plots in which
helpless unfortunates are terrorised by expedients which leave not
a trace of crime. A prisoner is no longer a man, but a human agent
to incriminate others. His soul is corrupted, and a price is put
upon treachery. See Bruno yourself if you can, and save him from
himself and the people whose only occupation in life is to secure
convictions.

"And now, as to your friend. Comfort her. The poor girl is no more
guilty than if a traction engine had run over her or a wild beast
had broken on her out of his cage. She must not torture herself
any longer. It is not right, it is not good. Our body is not the
only part of use that is subject to diseases, and you must save
her from a disease of the soul.

"As to whether she should tell her husband, I can have but one
opinion. I say, Yes, by all means. In the court of conscience the
sin, where it exists, is not wholly or mainly in the act. That has
been pardoned in secret as well as in public. God pardoned it in
David. Christ pardoned it in the woman of Jerusalem. But the
concealment, the lying and duplicity, these cannot be pardoned
until they have been confessed.

"Another point, which your pure mind, dearest, has never thought
of. There is the other man. Think of the power he holds over you