He said I was to meet him at the Church of St. Ig-
nasio at one and a half hours before Ave Maria, and
he would conduct me through the church into the
observatory. My servant might come into the church
with me. The Ave Maria bell rings half an hour after
sunset.
" At the appointed time, the next fine day, — and all
days seem to be fine, — we set out on our mission.
156 MARIA MITCHELL

" When we entered the church we saw, far in the dis-
tance, Father Secchi, standing just behind a pillar.
He slipped out a little way, as much as to say, 'I
await you,* but did not come forward to meet us ; so
the woman and I passed along through the rows of
kneeling worshippers, by the strolling students, and
past the lounging tourists — who, guide-book in hand,
are seen in every foreign church — until we came to the
standpoint from which the Father had been watch-
ing us. '

"Then the Italian woman put up a petition, not one
word of which I could understand, but the gestures
and the pointing showed that she begged to go on and
enter the monastery and see the observatory. Father
Secchi said, * No, the Holy Father gave permission to
one only,' and alone I entered the monastery walls.
