,
said, "Peace be in this place!" "Who is it that speaks?" said Isabel.
"It is a man's voice," replied the nun: "Gentle Isabel, go to him, and
learn his business; you may, I may not. When you have taken the veil,
you must not speak with men but in the presence of the prioress; then
if you speak, you must not shew your face, or if you shew your face,
you must not speak." "And have you nuns no farther privileges?" said
Isabel. "Are not these large enough?" replied the nun. "Yes, truly,"
said Isabel: "I speak not as desiring more, but rather wishing a more
strict restraint upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare."
Again they heard the voice of Lucio, and the nun said, "He calls
again. I pray you answer him." Isabel then went out to Lucio, and
in answer to his salutation, said, "Peace and prosperity! Who is it
that calls?" Then Lucio, approaching her with reverence, said, "Hail,
virgin, if such you be, as the roses in your cheeks proclaim you are
no less! can you bring me to the sight of Isabel, a novice of this
place, and the fair sister to her unhappy brother Claudio?" "Why her
unhappy brother?" said Isabel, "let me ask: for I am that Isabel, and
his sister." "Fair and gentle lady," he replied, "your brother kindly
greets you by me; he is in prison." "Woe is me! for what?" said
Isabel. Lucio then told her, Claudio was imprisoned for seducing a
young maiden. "Ah," said she, "I fear it is my cousin Juliet." Juliet
and Isabel were not related, but they called each other cousin in
remembrance of their school-days friendship; and as Isabel knew that
Juliet loved Claudio, she feared she had been led by her affection for
him into this transgression. "She it is," replied Lucio. "Why then let
my brother marry Juliet," said Isabel. Lucio replied, that Claudio
would gladly marry Juliet, but that the lord deputy had sentenced him
to die for his offence; "Unless," said he, "you have the grace by your
fair prayer to soften Angelo, and that is my business between you and
your poor brother." "Alas," said Isabel, "what poor ability is there
in me to do him good? I doubt I have no power to move Angelo." "Our
doubts are traitors," said Lucio, "and make us lose the good we might
often win, by fearing to attempt it. Go to lord Angelo! When maidens
sue, and kneel, and weep, men give like gods." "I will see what I can
do," said Isabel: "I will but stay to give the prioress notice of the
affair, and then I will go to Angelo. Commend me