they must be given for him still, and for his
salvation, else she could not give at all.

Monsignor Saracinesca had watched her progress from her noviciate to
her present position of responsibility, and had often spoken of her
with the Mother Superior. He would not have advised every nun to do
what he thought best in her case. There was not another in the
community, except the Mother herself, whom he would have trusted so
fully. But, being what she was, his honourable sense of justice to a
man who had suffered much and must suffer more impelled him to act as
he did. As he himself said, it was a matter of opinion and judgment,
and his own approved the course. Those may blame him who think
otherwise, but no one can find fault with Sister Giovanna for
following his advice; she had a right to believe that it was the best,
and as for herself, she had never hesitated. The mere suggestion that
she should not see Giovanni at least once and alone looked to her
outrageous and contrary to all sense, as perhaps it was.

Monsignor Saracinesca would see him first and arrange the meeting. He
thought it should take place in the cloistered garden.

'Why not here, in my office?' asked the nun.

But the churchman objected. If the two were to talk together, out of
hearing, they must not be out of sight. Never, under any
circumstances, should any one be able to say that there had been any
secrecy about their interview. He himself would bring Giovanni to the
place and the Mother Superior would accompany the nun. He and the
Mother would withdraw into the hall and wait until Sister Giovanna
dismissed Severi. The Mother would then join her, and Monsignor
Saracinesca would go away with Giovanni.

In order to forestall evil speaking more effectually, the two should
meet on the afternoon of the day on which the nun's week of duty as
supervising nurse came to an end. On that evening she would go away to
nurse a private case, and before that patient was recovered, Ugo
Severi would certainly be well enough to go home, and Giovanni's daily
visits to the hospital would have ceased. It would thus be easy to
prove that after their only interview, in what might be called a
public place, they had not been within the same walls at the same
time.

No one who has watched the politics of the so-called 'socialist' party
in Rome during the past twenty years will wonder at these precautions
nor even call them exaggerated. To all intents and purposes the