rather than to themselves, do still show some degraded traces of true
love and gentle charity.

But nothing of the kind was to be seen in the adulterous amours of the
Signora Eletta, who in every passion loved herself and herself only. And
herein was she much wider separated from God than so many other women
who gave way to their wanton desires. For in their case these desires
were towards others, whereas the Lady Eletta's had none but herself for
their object. What I say hereanent, I say to make more understandable
the conclusion of the matter, which I must now relate.

At the age of twenty she fell sick and felt herself to be dying. Then
she bewailed her fair body with the most piteous tears. She made her
women dress her out in her richest attire, looked long and steadfastly
at herself in the mirror, fondled with both hands her bosom and hips, to
enjoy for the last time her own exceeding beauty. And, aghast at the
thought of this body she so adored being eaten of the worms in the damp
earth, she said, as she breathed her last, with a great sigh of faith
and hope:

"Satan, best beloved Satan! take thou my soul and my body; Satan, gentle
Satan! hear my prayer: take, take my body along with my soul."

She was borne to San Zenone, as custom ordains, with her face uncovered;
and, within the memory of man, none had ever seen a dead woman look so
lovely. While the priests were chanting the offices for the dead around
her bier, she lay as if swooning with delight in the arms of an
invisible lover. When the ceremony was over, the Signora Eletta's
coffin, carefully closed and sealed, was deposited in holy ground, amid
the tombs that surrounded San Zenone, and of which some are Ancient