holding up her finger.

A solemn and stately step was now heard in the gallery; it might have
proclaimed the approach not merely of a bishop or cardinal, but of
the Sovereign Pontiff himself. Nor could the sound have been more
respectfully listened to by the two ladies, had it announced that the
Head of the Church was approaching in person. They drew themselves,
like sentinels on duty, one on each side of the door by which the
long gallery communicated with Fairford's apartment, and stood there
immovable, and with countenances expressive of the deepest reverence.

The approach of Father Buonaventure was so slow, that Fairford had time
to notice all this, and to marvel in his mind what wily and ambitious
priest could have contrived to subject his worthy but simple-minded
hostesses to such superstitious trammels. Father Buonaventure's entrance
and appearance in some degree accounted for the whole.

He was a man of middle life, about forty or upwards; but either care, or
fatigue, or indulgence, had brought on the appearance of premature
old age, and given to his fine features a cast of seriousness or even
sadness. A noble countenance, however, still remained; and though his
complexion was altered, and wrinkles stamped upon his brow in many a
melancholy fold, still the lofty forehead, the full and well-opened eye,
and the well-formed nose, showed how handsome in better days he
must have been. He was tall, but lost the advantage of his height
by stooping; and the cane which he wore always in his hand, and
occasionally used, as well as his slow though majestic gait, seemed to
intimate that his form and limbs felt already some touch of infirmity.
The colour of his hair could not be discovered, as, according to the
fashion, he wore a periwig. He was handsomely, though gravely dressed in
a secular habit, and had a cockade in his hat; circumstances which did
not surprise Fairford, who knew that a military disguise was very often
assumed by the seminary priests, whose visits to England, or residence
there, subjected them to legal penalties.

As this stately person entered the apartment, the two ladies facing
inward, like soldiers on their post when about to salute a superior
officer, dropped on either hand of the father a curtsy so profound that
the hoop petticoats which performed the feat seemed to sink down to
the very floor, nay, through it, as if a trap-door had opened for the
descent of the dames who performed this act of