Conclusion

We three had climbed to the top of St. Peter's, and were looking down
upon the Rome we were soon to leave, but which (having already sinned
sufficiently in that way) it is not my purpose further to describe. It
occurred to me, that, being so remote in the upper air, my friends might
safely utter here the secrets which it would be perilous even to whisper
on lower earth.

"Hilda," I began, "can you tell me the contents of that mysterious
packet which Miriam entrusted to your charge, and which was addressed to
Signore Luca Barboni, at the Palazzo Cenci?"

"I never had any further knowledge of it," replied Hilda, "nor felt it
right to let myself be curious upon the subject."

"As to its precise contents," interposed Kenyon, "it is impossible to
speak. But Miriam, isolated as she seemed, had family connections in
Rome, one of whom, there is reason to believe, occupied a position in
the papal government.

"This Signore Luca Barboni was either the assumed name of the personage
in question, or the medium of communication between that individual and
Miriam. Now, under such a government as that of Rome, it is obvious that
Miriam's privacy and isolated life could only be maintained through the
connivance and support of some influential person connected with the
administration of affairs. Free and self-controlled as she appeared, her
every movement was watched and investigated far more thoroughly by the
priestly rulers than by her dearest friends.

"Miriam, if I mistake not, had a purpose to withdraw herself from this
irksome scrutiny, and to seek real obscurity in another land; and the
packet, to be delivered long after her departure, contained a reference
to this design, besides certain family documents, which were to be
imparted to her relative as from one dead and gone."