Scarcely was it day, and already Lorenzo was at the convent of St. Clare, furnished with the necessary mandate. The nuns were at matins. He waited impatiently for the conclusion of the service, and at length the prioress appeared at the parlour grate. Agnes was demanded. The old lady replied, with a melancholy air, that the dear child’s situation grew hourly more dangerous; that the physicians despaired of her life; but that they had declared the only chance for her recovery to consist in keeping her quiet, and not to permit those to approach her whose presence was likely to agitate her. Not a word of all this was believed by Lorenzo, any more than he credited the expressions of grief and affection for Agnes, with which this account was interlarded. To end the business, he put the Pope’s bull into the hands of the domina, and insisted that, ill or in health, his sister should be delivered to him without delay.