I think the man, who is certainly the master
here, is but a new beginner in wickedness. He quarrelled frightfully
in my presence, with the wretch who seized me, and then they made an
impious bargain, to which I was compelled to acquiesce, and to which
they bound me as well as themselves by oaths. Ah! Middleton, I fear
the heretics are not so heedful of their vows as we who are nurtured
in the bosom of the true church!"
"Believe it not; these villains are of no religion: did they forswear
themselves?"
"No, not perjured: but was it not awful to call upon the good God to
witness so sinful a compact?"
"And so we think, Inez, as truly as the most virtuous cardinal of
Rome. But how did they observe their oath, and what was its purport?"
"They conditioned to leave me unmolested, and free from their odious
presence, provided I would give a pledge to make no effort to escape;
and that I would not even show myself, until a time that my masters
saw fit to name."
"And that time?" demanded the impatient Middleton, who so well knew
the religious scruples of his wife--"that time?"
"It is already passed.
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