When again alone with the Countess she continued her history, opening her heart to M.Y. with the greatest confidence.  In former years, she said, she had been drawn to seek the Lord, but for awhile affliction seemed to harden her heart, and she lost the religious impressions she had received; but now she felt again a desire to become acquainted with her Saviour, for she was miserable and felt the need of such a refuge.

22_nd_.—­In the afternoon the Count and Countess paid us a visit.  He is a man of strong mind, weary of the disappointing pleasures of the world, and happily turned to seek comfort in the substantial truths of religion.  The Countess was delighted to find that we were of the same Society as William Penn, whose name her father much revered.  They desired permission to attend our meeting; and a little before the hour we called on them, and they accompanied us to Professor Petavel’s, where we had a room quite filled and a good meeting.  At the conclusion M.Y. made some apology to the Countess for the imperfect manner in which the communication was made; but she replied, “It comes from the heart, and it goes to the heart.”  After the meeting none seemed disposed to move, and the Countess commenced asking questions directing to passages of the Scriptures, apparently desirous to confirm the practices of the Romish Church, but sincerely seeking to have the conviction of her own heart confirmed that they were errors.  It is not easy to describe the interest which this scene presented.  An accomplished Roman Catholic lady proposing questions of the deepest moment, and the learned but pious and humble Professor Petavel answering them with the Bible in his hand, while a roomful of attentive hearers were, we trust, reaping deep instruction.  Argyri joined them on the 27th at Neufchatel,[7] and they left that city the same day for Geneva.

Here they tarried nearly a fortnight, were received with much affection by their old friends, and had a few religious meetings.  Martha Yeardley says:—­

We met with several very interesting persons at Geneva, and had three religious opportunities with them; at the last meeting the number was much increased, but the place is not like Neufchatel.  The different societies make bonds for themselves and for one another, so that love and harmony do not sufficiently prevail amongst them.

Our stay in this place, writes John Yeardley, has been a time of distress of mind and perplexity of thought, arising probably from the great weight and importance of the journey before us, and the anxiety of providing a conveyance through a strange and dark country.  After much difficulty, we have concluded a written contract with an Italian voiturier to take us to Ancona.  May our Divine Keeper, in his infinite mercy, grant us protection and safety, even in the hands of ungodly men!

The journey to Ancona took them seventeen days; they crossed the Alps by the Simplon, and traversed Italy through Milan and Bologna.  Martha Yeardley touches upon a few points of the journey in a letter to Elizabeth Dudley.