This proposal, though similar to the one she had before accepted; and
though the certain means of rescuing her from the fate she dreaded,
she now turned from in sorrow and dejection. She loved Hippolitus with
a steady and tender affection, which was still heightened by the
gratitude he claimed as her deliverer; but she considered it a
prophanation of the memory of that brother who had suffered so much
for her sake, to mingle joy with the grief which her uncertainty
concerning him occasioned. She softened her refusal with a tender
grace, that quickly dissipated the jealous doubt arising in the mind
of Hippolitus, and increased his fond admiration of her character.

She desired to retire for a time to some obscure convent, there to
await the issue of the event, which at present involved her in
perplexity and sorrow.

Hippolitus struggled with his feelings and forbore to press farther
the suit on which his happiness, and almost his existence, now
depended. He inquired at the village for a neighbouring convent, and
was told, that there was none within twelve leagues, but that near the
town of Palini, at about that distance, were two. He procured horses;
and leaving the officers to return to Palermo for a stronger guard,
he, accompanied by Julia, entered on the road to Palini.

Julia was silent and thoughtful; Hippolitus gradually sunk into the
same mood, and he often cast a cautious look around as they travelled
for some hours along the feet of the mountains. They stopped to dine
under the shade of some beach-trees; for, fearful of discovery,
Hippolitus had provided against the necessity of entering many inns.
Having finished their repast, they pursued their journey; but
Hippolitus now began to doubt whether he was in the right direction.
Being destitute, however, of the means of certainty upon this point,
he followed the road before him, which now wound up the side of a
steep hill, whence they descended into a rich valley, where the
shepherd's pipe sounded sweetly from afar among the hills. The evening
sun shed a mild and mellow lustre over the landscape, and softened
each feature with a vermil glow that would have inspired a mind less
occupied than Julia's with sensations of congenial tranquillity.