That will come in three or four years, thanks to a situation which M.de Bragadin, my only protector, promises to obtain for me.

Until then she must live honestly, and support herself by working.

I will only marry her when I am convinced of her honesty, and particularly when I am certain that she has given up all intercourse with the abbe, her cousin in the fourth degree.

I do not visit her because my confessor and my conscience forbid me to go to her house." "She wishes you to give her a legal promise of marriage, and sustentation." "Monsignor, I am under no obligation to give her a promise of marriage, and having no means whatever I cannot support her.

She must earn her own living with her mother." "When she lived with her cousin," said her mother, "she never wanted anything, and she shall go back to him." "If she returns to his house I shall not take the trouble of taking her out of his hands a second time, and your excellency will then see that I was right to defer my marriage with her until I was convinced of her honesty." The judge told me that my presence, was no longer necessary.