"Stop! audacious man," said Manfred, "and dread my displeasure."

"Holy farther," said Hippolita, "it is your office to be no
respecter of persons: you must speak as your duty prescribes: but
it is my duty to hear nothing that it pleases not my Lord I should
hear. Attend the Prince to his chamber. I will retire to my
oratory, and pray to the blessed Virgin to inspire you with her
holy counsels, and to restore the heart of my gracious Lord to its
wonted peace and gentleness."

"Excellent woman!" said the Friar. "My Lord, I attend your
pleasure."

Manfred, accompanied by the Friar, passed to his own apartment,
where shutting the door, "I perceive, Father," said he, "that
Isabella has acquainted you with my purpose. Now hear my resolve,
and obey. Reasons of state, most urgent reasons, my own and the
safety of my people, demand that I should have a son. It is in
vain to expect an heir from Hippolita. I have made choice of
Isabella. You must bring her back; and you must do more. I know
the influence you have with Hippolita: her conscience is in your
hands. She is, I allow, a faultless woman: her soul is set on
heaven, and scorns the little grandeur of this world: you can
withdraw her from it entirely. Persuade her to consent to the
dissolution of our marriage, and to retire into a monastery--she
shall endow one if she will; and she shall have the means of being
as liberal to your order as she or you can wish. Thus you will
divert the calamities that are hanging over our heads, and have the
merit of saying the principality of Otranto from destruction. You