You may imagine my despair. My
fear of doing Tartaglia an injury kept me from revealing my sex, and for
twenty-four hours I languished in my cell, refusing food and air, and
resisting the repeated attempts of the good monks to alleviate my
distress. At length however I bethought me that the Countess would soon
appear; and it flashed across me that the one person who could protect
me from her was her brother. I at once sought an interview with the
Abbot, who received me with great indulgence. I explained to him that
the distress I suffered was occasioned by the loss that my sequestration
was causing my excellent manager, and begged him to use his influence to
have me released from the monastery. The Abbot listened attentively, and
after a pause replied that there was but one person who could arrange
the matter, and that was his sister the Countess Belverde, whose
well-known piety gave her considerable influence in such matters. I now
saw that no alternative remained but to confess the truth; and with
tears of agitation I avowed my sex, and threw myself on his mercy.
I was not disappointed in the result. The Abbot listened with the
greatest benevolence to all the details of my adventure. He laughed
heartily at his sister's delusion, but said I had done right in not
undeceiving her, as her dread of ridicule might have led to unpleasant
reprisals. He declared that for the present he could not on any account
consent to let me out of his protection; but he promised if I submitted
myself implicitly to his guidance, not only to preserve me from the
Belverde's machinations, but to ensure my reappearing on the stage
within two days at the latest.
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