It occurred to me, that, being so remote in the upper air, my friends might safely utter here the secrets which it would be perilous even to whisper on lower earth.
"Hilda," I began, "can you tell me the contents of that mysterious packet which Miriam entrusted to your charge, and which was addressed to Signore Luca Barboni, at the Palazzo Cenci ?" "I never had any further knowledge of it," replied Hilda, "nor felt it right to let myself be curious upon the subject." "As to its precise contents," interposed Kenyon, "it is impossible to speak.

But Miriam, isolated as she seemed, had family connections in Rome, one of whom, there is reason to believe, occupied a position in the papal government.
"This Signore Luca Barboni was either the assumed name of the personage in question, or the medium of communication between that individual and Miriam.

Now, under such a government as that of Rome, it is obvious that Miriam's privacy and isolated life could only be maintained through the connivance and support of some influential person connected with the administration of affairs.

Free and self-controlled as she appeared, her every movement was watched and investigated far more thoroughly by the priestly rulers than by her dearest friends.
"Miriam, if I mistake not, had a purpose to withdraw herself from this irksome scrutiny, and to seek real obscurity in another land; and the packet, to be delivered long after her departure, contained a reference to this design, besides certain family documents, which were to be imparted to her relative as from one dead and gone." "Yes, it is clear as a London fog," I remarked.

"On this head no further elucidation can be desired.