“Aye!” cried she, “it must be so. I have discovered the meaning of these groans.”

The nuns crowded round her, and besought her eagerly to explain herself. She gravely replied that for time immemorial the statue had been famous for performing miracles: from this she inferred that the saint was concerned at the conflagration of a convent which she protected, and expressed her grief by audible lamentations. Not having equal faith in the miraculous saint, Lorenzo did not think this solution of the mystery quite so satisfactory, as the nuns, who subscribed to it without hesitation. In one point, ’tis true, that he agreed with Helena.

He suspected that the groans proceeded from the statue: the more he listened, the more was he confirmed in this idea. He drew nearer to the image, designing to inspect it more closely: but perceiving his intention, the nuns besought him for God’s sake to desist, since if he touched the statue, his death was inevitable.

“And in what consists the danger?” said he.