NISIDA AND WAGNER FRANCISCO
AND FLORA THE APPROACH OF SUNSET.
Upward of two months had passed away
since the occurrences related in the preceding chapter,
and it was now the 31st of January, 1521.
The sun was verging toward the western
hemisphere, but the rapid flight of the hours was
unnoticed by Nisida and Fernand Wagner, as they were
seated together in one of the splendid saloons of the
Riverola mansion.
Their looks were fixed on each other’s
countenance; the eyes of Fernand expressing tenderness
and admiration, those of Nisida beaming with all the
passions of her ardent and sensual soul.
Suddenly the lady raised her hands,
and by the rapid play of the fingers, asked, “Fernand,
do you indeed love me as much as you would have me
believe I am beloved?”
“Never in this world was woman
so loved as you,” he replied, by the aid of
the same language.
“And yet I am an unfortunate
being deprived of those qualities which
give the greatest charm to the companionship of those
who love.”
“But you are eminently beautiful,
my Nisida; and I can fancy how sweet, how rich-toned
would be your voice, could your lips frame the words,
’I love thee!’”
A profound sigh agitated the breast
of the lady; and at the same time her lips quivered
strangely, as if she were essaying to speak.
Wagner caught her to his breast; and
she wept long and plenteously. Those tears relieved
her; and she returned his warm, impassioned kisses
with an ardor that convinced him how dear he had become
to that afflicted, but transcendently beautiful being.
On her side, the blood in her veins appeared to circulate
like molten lead; and her face, her neck, her bosom
were suffused with burning blushes.
At length, raising her head, she conveyed
this wish to her companion: “Thou hast
given me an idea which may render me ridiculous in
your estimation; but it is a whim, a fancy, a caprice,
engendered only by the profound affection I entertain
for thee. I would that thou shouldst say, in
thy softest, tenderest tones, the words ‘I
love thee!’ and, by the wreathing of thy
lips, I shall see enough to enable my imagination to
persuade itself that those words have really fallen
upon my ears.”
Fernand smiled assent; and, while
Nisida’s eyes were fixed upon him with the most
enthusiastic interest, he said, “I love thee!”
The sovereign beauty of her countenance
was suddenly lighted up with an expression of ineffable
joy, of indescribable delight; and, signaling the
assurance, “I love thee, dearest, dearest Fernand!”
she threw herself into his arms.
But almost at the same moment voices
were heard in the adjacent room: and Wagner,
gently disengaging himself from Nisida’s embrace,
hastily conveyed to her an intimation of the vicinity
of others.
The lady gave him to understand by
a glance that she comprehended him; and they remained
motionless, fondly gazing upon each other.
“I know not how it has occurred,
Flora,” said the voice of Francisco, speaking
in a tender tone, in the adjoining room “I
know not how it has occurred that I should have addressed
you in this manner so soon, too, after
the death of my lamented father, and while these mourning
garments yet denote the loss which myself and sister
have sustained ”
“Oh! my lord, suffer me to retire,”
exclaimed Flora Francatelli, in a tone of beseeching
earnestness; “I should not have listened to your
lordship so long in the gallery of pictures, much less
have accompanied your lordship hither.”
“I requested thee to come with
me to this apartment, Flora, that I might declare,
without fear of our interview being interrupted, how
dear, how very dear, thou art to me, and how honorable
is the passion with which thou hast inspired me.
Oh, Flora,” exclaimed the young count, “I
could no longer conceal my love for thee! My
heart was bursting to reveal its secret; and when
I discovered thee alone, ere now, in the gallery of
pictures, I could not resist the favorable opportunity
accident seemed to have afforded for this avowal.”
“Alas! my lord,” murmured
Flora, “I know not whether to rejoice or be
sorrowful at the revelation which has this day met
my ears.”
“And yet you said ere now that
you could love me, that you did love me in return,”
ejaculated Francisco.
“I spoke truly, my lord,”
answered the bashful maiden; “but, alas! how
can the humble, obscure, portionless Flora become the
wife of the rich, powerful and honored Count of Riverola?
There is an inseparable gulf fixed between us, my
lord.”
“Am I not my own master?
Can I not consult my own happiness in that most solemn
and serious of the world’s duties marriage?”
cried Francisco, with all the generous ardor of youth
and his own noble disposition.
“Your lordship is free and independent
in point of fact,” said Flora, in a low, tender
and yet impressive tone; “but your lordship has
relations friends.”
“My relations will not thwart
the wishes of him whom they love,” answered
Francisco; “and those who place obstacles in
the way of my felicity cannot be denominated my friends.”
“Oh! my lord could
I yield myself up to the hopes which your language
inspires!” cried Flora.
“You can you may,
dearest girl!” exclaimed the young count.
“And now I know that you love me! But many
months must elapse ere I can call thee mine; and,
indeed, a remorse smites my heart that I have dared
to think of my own happiness, so soon after a mournful
ceremony has consigned a parent to the tomb.
Heaven knows that I do not the less deplore his loss but
wherefore art thou so pale, so trembling, Flora?”
“Meseems that a superstitious
awe of evil omens has seized upon my soul,”
returned the maiden, in a tremulous tone. “Let
us retire, my lord; the Lady Nisida may require my
services elsewhere.”
“Nisida!” repeated Francisco,
as if the mention of his sister’s name had suddenly
awakened new ideas in his mind.
“Ah! my lord,” said Flora,
sorrowfully, “you now perceive that there is
at least one who may not learn with satisfaction the
alliance which your lordship would form with the poor
and humble dependent.”
“Nay, by my patron saint, thou
hast misunderstood me!” exclaimed the young
count warmly. “Nisida will not oppose her
brother’s happiness; and her strong mind will
know how to despise those conventional usages which
require that high birth should mate with high birth,
and wealth ally itself to wealth. Yes; Nisida
will consult my felicity alone; and when I ere now
repeated her name as it fell from your lips, it was
in a manner reproachful to myself, because I have
retained my love for thee a secret from her.
A secret from Nisida! Oh! I have been cruel,
unjust, not to have confided in my sister long ago!
And yet,” he added more slowly, “she might
reproach me for my selfishness in bestowing a thought
on marriage soon, so very soon, after a funeral!
Flora, dearest maiden, circumstances demand that the
avowal which accident and opportunity have led me
this day to make, should exist as a secret, known only
unto yourself and me. But, in a few months I
will explain all to my sister, and she will greet
thee as her brother’s chosen bride. Are
thou content, Flora, that our mutual love should remain
thus concealed until the proper time shall come for
its revelation?”
“Yes, my lord, and for many reasons,”
was the answer.
“For many reasons, Flora!” exclaimed the
young count.
“At least for more than one,”
rejoined the maiden. “In the first instance,
it is expedient your lordship should have due leisure
to reflect upon the important step which you propose
to take a step conferring so much honor
on myself, but which may not insure your happiness.”
“If this be a specimen of thy
reasons, dear maiden,” exclaimed Francisco,
laughing, “I need hear no more. Be well
assured,” he added seriously, “that time
will not impair the love I experience for you.”
Flora murmured a reply which did not
reach Wagner, and immediately afterward the sound
of her light steps was heard retreating from the adjacent
room. A profound silence of a few minutes occurred;
and then Francisco also withdrew.
Wagner had been an unwilling listener
to the preceding conversation; but while it was in
progress, he from time to time threw looks of love
and tenderness on his beautiful companion, who returned
them with impassioned ardor.
Whether it were that her irritable
temper was impatient of the restraint imposed upon
herself and her lover by the vicinity of others, or
whether she was annoyed at the fact of her brother
and Flora being so long together (for Wagner had intimated
to her who their neighbors were, the moment he had
recognized their voices), we cannot say; but Nisida
showed an occasional uneasiness of manner, which she,
however, studied to subdue as much as possible, during
the scene that took place in the adjoining apartment.
Fernand did not offer to convey to
her any idea of the nature of the conversation which
occupied her brother and Flora Francatelli; neither
did she manifest the least curiosity to be enlightened
on that head.
The moment the young lovers had quitted
the next room Wagner intimated the fact to Nisida;
but at the same instant, just as he was about to bestow
upon her a tender caress, a dreadful, an appalling
reminiscence burst upon him with such overwhelming
force that he fell back stupefied on the sofa.
Nisida’s countenance assumed
an expression of the deepest solicitude, and her eloquent,
sparkling eyes, implored him to intimate to her what
ailed him.
But, starting wildly from his seat,
and casting on her a look of such bitter, bitter anguish,
that the appalling emotions thus expressed struck
terror to her soul Fernand rushed from the
room.
Nisida sprung to the window; and,
though the obscurity of the evening now announced
the last flickerings of the setting sunbeams in the
west, she could perceive her lover dashing furiously
on through the spacious gardens that surrounded the
Riverola Palace.
On on he went toward the
River Arno; and in a few minutes was out of sight.
Alas! intoxicated with love, and giving
himself up to the one delightful idea that
he was with the beauteous Nisida then, absorbed
in the interest of the conversation which he had overheard
between Francisco and Flora Wagner had
forgotten until it was nearly too late, that the
sun was about to set on the last day of the month.