Marrying Too Late Author:George Wood Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER IX. THEY VISIT Mzda's NUNNERY. ADVENTURE OF MIS. AKOYLK WITH A ROMAN EISHOP. Amoxo the visitors to Meda's parlor, whose frequent alia attracted ... more »the attention of Mr. Argyle, was Monsi- gnori De Gomi, a man of thirty, who was believed to have free access to the ear of the then Pope, Gregory XIV., and was held—it may have been for this reason—in high esteem by Father Roothaan, late General of the Jesuits. He was a descendant of the famous Cardinal De Retz, whom he was said to resemble in his love of intrigue, while, unlike his great-great uncle, the cardinal, he had the most speaking, far-seeing eyes. At this time he was an object of suspicion to the Cardinal Ministers; but as he wu protected by the French Minister and the General of the Jesuits, De Gorni kept his place at Rome, where his skill and tact in countervailing the Austrian predilections of Cardinal Lambuschini, made him an important personage. There were whispers that he never failed to enlistin his service the most beautiful ladies, and was especially successful in his admiration of the Mareh6sa d'Orsino, whose near relationship to an eminent cardinal was very much in his favor. The Monsignori de Gorni was very intimate with the count, and, in a platonic way, an admirer of Meda, who had introduced him to the Argyle parlor, where he frequently spent an hour or two of an evening. At one of these visits he proposed to Meda and her friends to visit the nunnery where she had spent more than two years, saying, the new lady abbess had expressed a wish to see her. The invitation was gladly accepted, and the count coming in, they all agreed to go the next morning. The day was delightful, and Mr. Argyle had the dear delight of driving out Meda in a cabriolet he had borrowed of Lord Howard. The nunnery stood o...« less