We may look on him to-morrow as our best friend." "But Ramiro knows," I reminded her.
"True, but do you think that he will dare to tell the world what he knows?
He might be asked to say how he comes by his knowledge, and that should prove a difficult question to answer.

Tell me, Lazzaro," she continued, "if he had succeeded in carrying me away, what think you would have been said in Pesaro to-morrow when the coffin was found empty ?" "They would assume that your body had been stolen by some wizard or some daring student of anatomy." "Ah! And if we were quietly to quit the church and be clear of Pesaro before morning, would not the same be said ?" "Probably," answered I.
"Then why hesitate?
Is it that you do not love me enough, Lazzaro ?" I smiled, and my eyes must have told her more than any protestation could.

Then I sighed.

"I hesitate, Madonna, because I would not have you do now what you might come, hereafter, bitterly to repent.

I would not let you be misled by the impulse of a moment into an act whose consequences must endure as long as life itself." "Is that the reasoning of a lover ?" she asked me, very quietly.