Among these were two females, who now alone shared with Adrian the long and gloomy street into which he had entered.

The moon was already bright in the heavens, and, as the women passed the cavalier with a light and quick step, the younger one turned back and regarded him by the clear light with an eager, yet timid glance.
"Why dost thou tremble, my pretty one!" said her companion, who might have told some five-and-forty years, and whose garb and voice bespoke her of inferior rank to the younger female.

"The streets seem quiet enough now, and, the Virgin be praised! we are not so far from home either." "Oh, Benedetta, it is he! it is the young signor--it is Adrian!" "That is fortunate," said the nurse, for such was her condition, "since they say he is as bold as a Northman: and as the Palazzo Colonna is not very far from hence, we shall be within reach of his aid should we want it: that is to say, sweet one, if you will walk a little slower than you have yet done." The young lady slackened her pace, and sighed.
"He is certainly very handsome," quoth the nurse: "but thou must not think more of him; he is too far above thee for marriage, and for aught else, thou art too honest, and thy brother too proud--" "And thou, Benedetta, art too quick with thy tongue.

How canst thou talk thus, when thou knowest he hath never, since, at least, I was a mere child, even addressed me: nay, he scarce knows of my very existence.

He, the Lord Adrian di Castello, dream of the poor Irene! The mere thought is madness!" "Then why," said the nurse, briskly, "dost thou dream of him ?" Her companion sighed again more deeply than at first.
"Holy St.Catherine!" continued Benedetta, "if there were but one man in the world, I would die single ere I would think of him, until, at least, he had kissed my hand twice, and left it my own fault if it were not my lips instead." The young lady still replied not.
"But how didst thou contrive to love him ?" asked the nurse.