It was night and Fernand
was pacing the sand with even greater agitation than
he had manifested during the cruel scene of the evening.
He was alone on the seashore; and Nisida slept in the
hut. Terrible thoughts warred in the breast of
Wagner. Nisida’s language had astonished
and alarmed him: he was convinced that Satan himself
had inspired her with those ideas, the utterance of
which had nearly goaded him to madness. She had
insisted on the belief that he was acquainted with
the means of enabling her to return to Italy; and yet
Nisida was not a mere girl a silly, whimsical
being, who would assert the wildest physical impossibilities
just as caprice might prompt her. No she
really entertained that belief but without
having any ostensible grounds to establish it.
“Such an impression could only
have been made upon her mind by the fiend who seeks
to entangle me in his meshes!” murmured Wagner
to himself, as he paced the strand. “The
demon has failed to tempt me as yet thrice
has he failed; and now he musters all his
force to assail me, to assail me, too,
in the most vulnerable points! But, O Heaven,
give me strength to resist the dread influence thus
brought to bear upon me! What course can I adopt?
what plan pursue? If to-morrow must witness a
renewal of that scene which occurred this evening,
I shall succumb I shall yield; in a moment
of despair I shall exclaim, ’Yes, Nisida I
will sacrifice everything to acquire the power to transport
thee back to Italy;’ and I shall
hurry to yon mountains, and seeking their wildest
defile, shall evoke the enemy of mankind, and say,
’Come, Satan, I give thee my soul in exchange
for the illimitable power thou offerest.’
And thus will be the terrible result the
fearful catastrophe.”
Big drops of agony stood upon Fernand’s
brow as he uttered these words. He saw that he
was hovering on the verge of a fearful abyss and
he trembled lest he should fall, so intense was his
love for Nisida. At one moment he thought of
the soothing vision, full of hope and promise, which
had occupied his slumber in the morning; at another
he pondered on the tears, the prayers, and the threats
of Nisida. The conflicting thoughts were, indeed,
sufficient to urge him on to a state of utter despair: his
eternal salvation and the happiness of her whom he
loved so tenderly were placed in such antagonistic
position that they raised a fierce a painful an
agonizing warfare in his breast. Now he would
fall upon his knees and pray and pray fervently
for strength to continue in the right path: then
he would again give way to all the maddening influences
of his bitter reflections; and, while in this mood,
had Satan suddenly stood before him, he would have
succumbed yes, he would have succumbed.
But the fiend had no longer any power to offer direct
temptation to the wretched Wagner. Oh! if he could
die that moment, how gladly would he release himself
from an existence fraught with so much misery; but
death was not yet within the reach of him who bore
the doom of a Wehr-Wolf! The morning dawned,
and Fernand Wagner was still pacing the sand dreading
to meet Nisida again, and not daring to seek to avoid
her. Were he to fly to the mountains or to the
forests, she would search after him; and thus he would
only be leading her into perils amidst yawning precipices,
or where she might become the prey of the terrible
anaconda. To remain were anguish to
fly were madness!
“Oh, wretch, miserable wretch
that I am!” exclaimed Wagner, as he beheld the
twilight so short in the tropics growing
more powerful, and knew that Nisida would soon come
forth from the hut. In a few minutes the orb
of day appeared above the Orient wave and
almost at the same time the lady made her appearance
on the shore.
“Fernand, thou hast not sought
repose throughout the night just past!” she
said, advancing toward him, and endeavoring to read
upon his countenance the thoughts which filled his
brain.
“Nisida,” he replied,
in a rapid and excited tone, “I have gone through
so much during the last few hours that ’tis a
marvel reason has maintained its seat. If thou
lovest me, let us forget all those topics which have
so strongly excited us both: and let us unite
our prayers that Heaven will send thee means to quit
this isle and return to thy native land.”
“Fernand,” said Nisida,
in a tone of deep disappointment and reproach, “I
was not prepared for this. Your words imply that
you possess the power to aid my departure hence, but
that you have resolved not to use it. Is that
your decision?”
“I scorn to deceive thee, Nisida,
by a direct falsehood in so serious a matter as this,”
exclaimed Wagner. “Knowest thou, my beloved,
at what price must be purchased the power which alone
can enable me to effect thy return to Italy?
canst thou divine the immeasurable sacrifice which
I must make to gratify thy wishes?”
“Fernand,” answered Nisida,
in a reproachful and yet resolute tone, “there
is no price that I would not pay to obtain the means
of pleasing thee! there is no sacrifice
that I should shrink from were your happiness at stake!”
“Nisida,” ejaculated Wagner,
in a tone of fearful excitement, “you drive
me to despair! Have mercy upon me, Nisida, have
mercy upon me! My God! if you taunt me if
you reproach me thus I will do all that
you command; but force me not to believe, Nisida my
well beloved Nisida that, in espousing
thee in the sight of Heaven, I took to my bosom a
fiend instead of a woman, a relentless demon in the
most charming female shape that evil spirit ever wore.
Oh! if you knew all, you would pity me as it is.
So wretched on earth you would not compel me to renounce
every hope of salvation; for, know, Nisida,”
he added, his countenance wearing an expression of
indescribable horror, “know that in demanding
of me this last sacrifice, you ordain that I should
sell my immortal soul to Satan!”
For a moment Nisida appeared shocked
and appalled at the words which met her ears; but
she rather recoiled from the manner of fearful excitement
in which they were uttered, than from the intelligence
which they conveyed.
“He who truly loves,”
she said coldly, as she recovered her equanimity,
“would make even that sacrifice! and now
listen Fernand,” she continued, her
eyes flashing fire, and her naked bosom heaving convulsively
as she spoke, while her splendid form was drawn up
to its full height, and her whole aspect sublimely
terrible and wondrously beautiful, even in that fit
of agitated passion “listen, Fernand!”
she cried, in her musical, flute-like voice, which,
however, assumed the imperious accent and tone of
command: “thou art a coward, and unworthy
such an earnest such a profound, such a
devoted love as mine, if thou refusest to consummate
a sacrifice which will make us both powerful and great
as long as we live! Consider, my Fernand the
spirit with whom thou wouldst league thyself can endow
us with an existence running over centuries to come,
can invest us with eternal youth, can place countless
treasures at our disposal, can elevate us to the proudest
thrones of Christendom! Oh! wilt thou spurn advantages
like those? wilt thou refuse to avail thyself of gifts
that must render us so supremely happy? No, no:
and we can return together to my native city, we can
enter Florence in triumph, thou no longer fearing
the terror of the law, I no longer compelled to simulate
the doom of the deaf and dumb! Our enemies shall
lick the dust at our feet, and we shall triumph wherever
success may be desirable. Oh! I understand
that beseeching, appealing look, Fernand: thou
thinkest that I shall love thee less if this immense
sacrifice be consummated, that I shall look upon thee
with loathing. No, not so: and to convince
thee that mine is a soul endowed with an iron will,
that mine is an energy which can grapple even with
remorse, I will reveal to thee a secret which thou
hast perhaps never even suspected. Fernand!”
she exclaimed, now becoming absolutely terrible with
the excitement that animated her; “Fernand!”
she repeated, “’twas I who murdered the
girl Agnes, in the garden of thy mansion at Florence!”
“Thou, thou, Nisida?”
almost shrieked Wagner wildly; “oh, no, no!
Recall that dreadful avowal! And yet oh!
yes I see it all my former suspicions
are confirmed. Wretched woman. What harm
did the unfortunate Agnes do to thee?”
“I saw in her a rival, Fernand or
fancied that she was so,” answered Nisida; “I
overheard your conversation with her that morning in
the garden I saw her embrace thee tenderly mine
ears drank in her words; oh, I remember them even
now! She said, ’Oh, what a night of uneasiness
have I passed! But at length thou art restored
to me; thou whom I have ever loved so fondly; although
I abandoned thee for so long a time!’ Were not
those her very words? And thou didst speak to
her in a tone equally tender. Ah! I have
ever suspected that she was thy mistress; although
thou didst swear upon the cross, in thy dungeon, that
she was not. But so great was my love for thee,
that I smothered the dread suspicion ”
“Suspicion,” repeated
Wagner, in the penetrating tone of heart-rending anguish, an
anguish so intense that his brain whirled, and he knew
not what he said or did. “Oh, wretched
woman, and thou didst slay Agnes on a mere suspicion?”
“I hated her even
before I entertained that suspicion,” exclaimed
Nisida, impatiently; “for she was the mistress
of my father! Thinkest thou that my quick ears
had not gleaned the mysterious whisperings which frequently
passed between my sire and his valet Antonio, relative
to the lady who dwelt in seclusion at the abode of
that menial’s mother? or thinkest thou that
when I once obtained a clew to my father’s degrading
passion, I scrupled to watch him, to follow him, to
learn all his proceedings? No; for it was the
more easily to enact the spy upon my own father that
originally simulated the doom of the deaf and dumb.
A purse of gold induced Dame Margaretha, Antonio’s
mother, to give me admission into her house; though
she also believed that I was really deprived of the
faculties of hearing and of speech. But often
and often was I concealed in the chamber adjacent
to that where my father passed hours with his mistress;
and it was not without advantage that I so acted.
For I discovered that amongst the presents which he
had given her, were the jewels which had belonged
to my sainted mother that mother whose wrongs
were so manifold, and whose sufferings were so great.
Yes: and I possessed myself of those jewels,
leaving the girl the other gifts which she had received
from my sire.
“And now, since I am involved
in relations of such import, I shall do well to inform
thee, Fernand, that I had seen and loved thee before
thou didst come as a visitor to our mansion in Florence.
For it was my habit to proceed occasionally to the
dwelling of the good Dr. Duras, the depositary of
my grand secret of the feigned loss of faculties; and
while wandering alone in his garden I once beheld thee!
And the moment I beheld I loved thee. Often often
after that would I visit the kind physician’s
grounds, whereof I possessed a pass-key; and my admiration
of thee led me to pass the slight boundary which separated
his garden from thine. Then I would approach
the windows of thy dwelling and contemplate thee as
thou wast seated in thy favorite apartment. On
the night of my father’s funeral, although so
very late when all the subsequent business connected
with the reading of the will was concluded, my mind
was so perturbed and restless that I could not sleep;
and quitting the Riverola mansion by a private door,
I sought the fresh air with the hope that it would
calm me. Some vague and indescribable sentiment
of curiosity, or else something that I heard on the
return of the mourners, relative to the strange scene
enacted in the church, I know not which, led me to
the vicinity of your abode; and there, in your favorite
room, I beheld you seated, listening attentively to
some sweet words, doubtless, which Agnes was breathing
into your ear. But she caught a glimpse of my
countenance by the light of the lamps ”
“Enough! enough!” exclaimed
Wagner; “thou hast indeed cleared up innumerable
mysteries! But, oh! Nisida would
that thou hadst remained silent that thou
hadst not drawn aside the veil which my elevated opinion
of thee had thrown over the suspicions that, I admit,
from time to time ”
“And if I have told thee all
this, Fernand,” interrupted Nisida, impatiently,
“it is that thou may’st be convinced not
only of the natural energy of my mind, but also of
the deep love which I bear thee. And now, now
that thou seest me in my true character, a murderess
if thou wilt,” she added with an emphasis of
bitter scorn, “now canst thou refuse that sacrifice ”
“Nisida! Nisida! enough
crime has been perpetrated by both us, Heaven knows!”
ejaculated Wagner, still writhing with the anguish
produced by the avowal which had so lately met his
ears. “Oh! accursed be the day, blotted
from the annals of Time be the hour, Nisida, when thy
hand struck the fatal dagger into the heart of Agnes.”
“What! this to my face?”
said Nisida, her countenance becoming crimson with
indignation, and not her face only, but her swan-like
neck, her shoulders, and her bosom. “Then
she was thy mistress, Fernand! And thou
didst love her, while I fancied, false one that thou
art, thine affections to be wholly and solely mine.”
“Nisida,” exclaimed Fernand,
cruelly bewildered, “you drive me to despair.
I know not whether to loathe thee for this avowal which
thou hast made, or to snatch thee to my arms, abandon
all hope of salvation, and sacrifice myself entirely
for one so transcendently beautiful as thou art.
But thy suspicions relative to Agnes are ridiculous,
monstrous, absurd. For, as surely as thou art
there, Nisida as the heaven is above us
and the earth beneath us as surely as that
I love thee so well as to be unable to reproach thee
more for the deed which thou hast confessed so
surely, Nisida, was Agnes my own granddaughter, and
I I, Fernand Wagner young, strong,
and healthy as thou beholdest me, am fourscore and
fifteen years of age.”
Nisida started in affright, and then
fixed a scrutinizing glance upon Fernand’s countenance;
for she feared that his reason was abandoning him that
he was raving.
“Ah! Nisida, I see that
you do not credit my words,” he exclaimed; “and
yet I have told thee the solemn, sacred truth.
But mine is a sad history and a dreadful fate; and
if I thought that thou would’st soothe my wounded
spirit, console, and not revile me, pity, and not loathe
me, I would tell thee all.”
“Speak, Fernand, speak!”
she cried; “and do me not so much wrong as to
suppose that I could forget my love for thee that
love which made me the murderer of Agnes. Besides,”
she added, enthusiastically, “I see that we
are destined for each other; that the dark mysteries
attached to both our lives engender the closest sympathies;
that we shall flourish in power, and glory, and love,
and happiness together.”
Wagner threw his arms around Nisida’s
neck, and clasped her to his breast. He saw not
in her the woman who had dealt death to his granddaughter;
he beheld in her only a being of ravishing beauty and
wondrous mind, so intoxicated was he with his passion,
and so great was the magic influence which she wielded
o’er his yielding spirit. Then, as her
head reclined upon his breast, he whispered to her,
in a few hurried, but awfully significant words, the
nature of his doom, the dread conditions on which
he had obtained resuscitated youth, an almost superhuman
beauty, a glorious intellect, and power of converting
the very clods of the earth into gold and precious
stones at will.
“And now, dearest,” he
added, in a plaintive and appealing tone, “and
now thou may’st divine wherefore on the last
day of every month I have crossed these mountains;
thou may’st divine, too, how my escape from the
prison of Florence was accomplished; and, though no
mortal power can abridge my days though
the sword of the executioner would fall harmless on
my neck, and the deadly poison curdle not in my veins still,
man can bind me in chains, and my disgrace is known
to all Florence.”
“But thou shalt return thither,
Fernand,” exclaimed Nisida, raising her countenance
and gazing upon him, not with horror and amazement,
but in pride and triumph; “thou shalt return
thither, Fernand, armed with a power that may crush
all thine enemies, and blast with destructive lightning
the wretches who would look slightingly on thee.
Already thou art dearer, far dearer to me than ever
thou wast before; for I love the marvelous I
glory in the supernatural and thou art a
being whom such women as myself can worship and adore.
And thou repinest at thy destiny? thou shudderest
at the idea of that monthly transformation which makes
thy fate so grand, because it is so terrible?
Oh, thou art wrong, thou art wrong, my Fernand.
Consider all thou hast gained, how many, many years
of glorious youth and magnificent beauty await thee!
Think of the power with which thy boundless command
of wealth may invest thee. Oh, thou art happy,
enviable, blest. But I I,” she
added, the impassioned excitement of her tone suddenly
sinking into subdued plaintiveness as her charming
head once more fell upon his breast “I
am doomed to fade and wither like the other human
flowers of the earth. Oh, that thought is now
maddening. While thou remainest as thou art now,
vested with that fine, manly beauty which won my heart
when first I saw thee, and before I knew thee:
I shall grow old, wrinkled, and thou wilt loathe me.
I shall be like a corpse by the side of one endowed
with vigorous life. Oh, Fernand; this may not
be; and thou canst purchase the power to bestow unperishing
youth, unchanging beauty upon me; the power, moreover,
to transport us hence, and render us happy in inseparable
companionship for long, long years to come.”
“Merciful heavens! Nisida,”
exclaimed Fernand, profoundly touched by the urgent,
earnest appeal of the lovely siren whose persuasive
eloquence besought him to seal his own eternal damnation “would’st
thou have me yield up my soul to the enemy of mankind?”
“Do you hesitate? Can you
even pause to reflect?” cried Nisida, with whose
tongue the demon himself was as it were speaking.
“Oh, Fernand, you love me not, you have never,
never loved me.” And she burst into a flood
of tears. Wagner was painfully moved by this spectacle,
which constituted so powerful an argument to support
the persuasive eloquence of her late appeal.
His resolution gave way rapidly the more
agonizing became her sobs the weaker grew his self-command;
and his lips were about to murmur the fatal assent
to her prayer about to announce his readiness
to summon the enemy of mankind and conclude the awful
compact when suddenly there passed before
his eyes the image of the guardian angel whom he had
seen in his vision, dim and transparent as the thinnest
vapor, yet still perceptible and with an expression
of countenance profoundly mournful. The apparition
vanished in a moment; but its evanescent presence
was fraught with salvation. Tearing himself wildly
and abruptly from Nisida’s embrace, Wagner exclaimed
in a tone indicative of the horror produced by the
revulsion of feeling in his mind, “No never never!”
and, fleet as the startled deer he ran he
flew toward the mountains. Frightened and amazed
by his sudden cry and simultaneous flight, Nisida
cast her eyes rapidly around to ascertain the cause
of his alarm, thinking that some dreadful spectacle
had stricken terror to his soul. But ah what
sees she? Why do her glances settle fixedly in
one direction? What beholds she in the horizon?
For a few moments she is motionless, speechless, she
cannot believe her eyes. Then her countenance,
which has already experienced the transition from
an expression of grief and alarm to one of suspense
and mingled hope and fear, becomes animated with the
wildest joy; and forgetting the late exciting scene
as completely as if it had never taken place, but with
all her thoughts and feelings absorbed in the new the
one idea which now engrosses her she turns
her eyes rapidly round toward the mountains, exclaiming,
“Fernand, dearest Fernand! a sail a
sail.”
But Wagner hears her not: she
stamps her foot with impatient rage upon the sand;
and in another moment the groves conceal her lover
from view.
Yes; Wagner looked not round; heard
not the voice of Nisida invoking him to return, but
continued his rapid flight toward the mountains, as
if hurrying in anguish and in horror from the meshes
which had been spread to ensnare his mortal soul.
And now Nisida became all selfishness; there was at
length a hope, a sudden hope that she should be speedily
enabled to quit the hated monotonous island, and her
fine, large dark eyes were fixed intently upon the
white sails which gradually grew more and more palpable
in the azure horizon. She was not deceived; there
was no doubt, no uncertainty, as to the nature of
the object which now engrossed all her thoughts, and
filled her heart with the wildest joy. It was
indeed a ship, and its course was toward the island;
for, as she gazed with fixed and longing eyes, it
by degrees assumed a more defined shape; and that
which had at first appeared to be but one small white
piece of canvas, gradually developed the outlines
of many sails, and showed the tapering spars, until
at last the black hull appeared, completing the form
of a large and noble vessel. Joy! joy she
should yet be saved from the island. And, ah do
the chances of that hoped-for safety multiply?
Is it indeed another ship which has caught her eye
in the far-off horizon? Yes; and not one only,
but another, and another, and another, until she can
count seven vessels, all emerging from the mighty distance,
and spreading their snow-white canvas to the breeze
which wafts them toward the isle.
Crowds of conflicting thoughts now
rush to the mind of Nisida; and she seats herself
upon the strand to deliberate as calmly as she may
upon the course which she should adopt. Alas,
Fernand: thou wast not then uppermost in the
imagination of thy Nisida, although she had not entirely
forgotten thee. But the principal topic of her
meditations, the grand question which demanded the
most serious weighing and balancing in her mind, was
whether she should again simulate the deafness and
dumbness which she had now for many months been accustomed
to affect. Grave and important interests and
a deeply-rooted attachment to her brother on the one
side urged the necessity of so doing; but on the other,
a fearful disinclination to resume that awful duplicity that
dreadful self-sacrifice, an apprehension lest the enjoyment
of the faculties of hearing and speech for so long
a period should have unfitted her for the successful
revival and efficient maintenance of the deceit; these
were the arguments on the negative side. But Nisida’s
was not a mind to shrink from any peril or revolt
from any sacrifice which her interests or her aims
might urge her to encounter; and it was with fire-flashing
eyes and a neck proudly arching, that she raised her
head in a determined manner, exclaiming aloud, “Yes,
it must be so. But the period of this renewed
self-martyrdom will not last long. So soon as
thine interests shall have been duly cared for, Francisco,
I will quit Florence forever, I will return to this
island, and here will I pass the remainder of my days
with thee, my beloved Fernand! And that I do
love thee still, Fernand, although thou hast fled
from my presence as if I were suddenly transformed
into a loathsome monster, that I must ever continue
to love thee, Fernand, and that I shall anxiously long
to return to thine arms, are truths as firmly based
as the foundations of the island. Thine, then,
shall be the last name, thy name shall be the last
word that I will suffer my lips to pronounce ere I
once more place the seal upon them. Yes, I love
thee, Fernand; oh! would to God that thou could’st
hear me proclaim how much I love thee, my beauteous,
my strangely-fated Fernand!”
It was almost in a despairing tone
that Nisida gave utterance to these last words; for
as the chance of escape from the island grew every
moment less equivocal, by the nearer approach of the
fleet, which was, however, still far from the shore,
the intensity of her sensual passion for Wagner, that
passion which she believed to be the purest and most
firmly rooted love, revived; and her heart smote her
for her readiness to abandon him to the solitude of
that island. But as she was now acquainted with
all the mysteries of his fate, as she knew that he
could not die for many, many years to come, nor lose
that glorious beauty which had proved alike her pleasure
and her pride, her remorse and her alarms were to
a considerable degree mitigated: for she thought
within herself, although she now spoke aloud no
more; “Death will not snatch him from me,
disease will not impair his godlike features and elegant
form, and he loves me too well not to receive me with
open arms when I shall be enabled to return to him.”
These were her thoughts: and starting upon her
feet, she compressed her lips tightly, as if to remind
herself that she had once more placed a seal there,
a seal not to be broken for some time. An hour
had now passed since Fernand Wagner and Nisida separated
on the seashore; and he did not come back. Meantime
the fleet of ships had drawn nearer, and though she
more than once entertained the idea of hastening after
Wagner to implore him to accompany her whithersoever
those vessels were bound, or at least to part with
the embrace of tenderness, yet her fear lest the ships
might sail past without touching at the island, predominated
over her softer feelings. And now, having settled
in her mind the course she was to adopt, she hastened
to the stores which she had saved from the wreck of
the corsair vessel, and which had been piled up on
the strand the day after she was first thrown on that
Mediterranean isle.
It will be remembered that amongst
the articles thus saved were changes of apparel, which
Stephano Verrina had procured for her use at Leghorn
ere the corsair-bark set sail on that voyage from which
it never returned, and during Nisida’s long
sojourn on the island, she had frequently examined
those garments, and had been careful to secure them
from the effects of rain or damp, in the hope that
the day would sooner or later come when she might
assume them for the purpose of bidding adieu to that
lovely but monotonous island. And now that day
has come; and the moment so anxiously longed for appeared
to be rapidly approaching. Nisida accordingly
commenced her toilet, as if she had only just risen
from her couch and was preparing to dress to go abroad
amongst the busy haunts of human beings.
Her dark luxuriant hair, which so
long had floated negligently upon her ivory shoulders,
was now gathered up in broad massive bands at the
sides, and artistically plaited and confined at the
back of her well-shaped head. The tight bodice
was next laced over the swelling bosom: hose
and light boots imprisoned the limbs which had so often
borne her glancing along in their nudity to the soft
music of the stream in the vale or of the wavelets
of the sea; broidery set off the fine form of Nisida
in all the advantage of its glowing, full and voluptuous
proportions. Then the large black veil was fastened
to the plaits of her hair, whence its ample folds
swept over that admirable symmetry of person, endowing
her once more with the queen-like air which became
so well her splendid, yet haughty style of beauty!
Yes: no longer subdued by simplicity of attire no
longer tender and soft, was the loveliness of Nisida;
but grand, imperious, and dazzling did she now seem
again, as erst she seemed ere her foot trod that island-shore.
Appareled in handsome garments, and
with the rich carnation glow of health and animation
on her cheeks, and with her eyes flashing the fires
of hope, but with the vermilion lips compressed, Nisida
now stood on the strand where so oft she had wandered
like a naiad, feeling no shame at her semi-nudity.
During the time occupied by her toilet,
the fleet of seven ships had approached much nearer
to the island, and now they were not more than three
miles distant. The hulls, which at first had seemed
quite black, shone, as they drew closer, with the
gay colors in which they were painted, the gorgeous
sunlight playing vividly on the gilding of the prows,
the streaks of red and white along the sides, and the
splendid decorations of the poop lanterns. Noble
and mighty ships they were ships of size
such as Nisida had never seen before, and in comparison
with which all the merchant-vessels she had beheld
at Leghorn were but mere boats. There was no
need to raise a signal to invite them to approach for
that fleet was evidently steering toward the island.
Whence did this fleet come? whither was it bound? to
what nation did it belong? and would those on board
treat her with attention and respect?
Such were the thoughts which flashed
across her brain and her heart beat with
anxiety for the arrival of the moment which should
solve those questions. Absorbed as she was in
the contemplation of the noble ships those
mighty but graceful swans of the ocean she
did not forget to cast, from time to time, a rapid
glance around, to see if Fernand were retracing his
way toward her. Alas! no he came not and
she must quit the isle without embracing him without
assuring him of her constant love without
renewing her oft-repeated promise to return. Ah!
a thought struck her: she would leave a note for
him in the hut! No sooner was the project determined
on than she set about its execution; for there were
writing materials amidst the stores saved from the
corsair-wreck. A brief but tender letter was hastily
penned, and then secured in a place where she knew
he must find it should he revisit the rude tenement
in which they had so often slept in each other’s
arms. And that he would revisit it she both fondly
hoped and firmly believed revisit it so
soon as the excitement and the terror, under the influence
of which he had parted from her, should have subsided.
Her mind was now much easier, and her beauty was wonderfully
enhanced by the glow of animation which suffused itself
over her countenance, giving additional light to her
ever brilliant eyes, and rendering her noble aquiline
face resplendent to gaze upon.
The ships came to anchor at a distance
of about two miles from the shore: and though
the banners of each were fluttering in the breeze,
yet Nisida was not well skilled enough in discriminating
the flags of different nations to be able immediately
to satisfy herself to which country that fleet belonged.
But as she stood with her eyes fixed on the foremost
vessel, which was also the largest, she observed that
there was a gilt crescent in the middle of the blood-red
standard that floated over her central poop-lantern;
and a chill struck to her heart for the
thought of African pirates flashed to her mind!
This alarm was, however, as evanescent as it was poignant;
for another moment’s reflection convinced her
that none of the princes of Africa could send so proud
a fleet to sea. Following up the chain of reasoning
thus suggested, and calling to her aid all the accounts
she had read of naval fights between the Christians
and the Moslems, she at length remembered that the
blood-red banner, with the gilt crescent in the middle,
denoted the presence of the Kapitan-Pasha, or Lord
High Admiral of the Ottoman Empire. Confidently
believing that peace existed between Italy and Turkey,
she had now no longer any fears as to the treatment
she was likely to experience at the hands of the Mohammedans;
and it was with unfeigned joy that she beheld a boat,
which had put off from the admiral’s ship, at
length approaching the shore.
As the magnificently painted and gorgeously
gilt barge, which twenty-four white-turbaned rowers
urged along with almost horse-race speed, neared the
strand, Nisida observed, beneath a velvet canopy in
the stern, a personage, who by his splendid apparel,
his commanding demeanor, and the respect paid to him
by the slaves accompanying him, was evidently of exalted
rank. She accordingly conceived that this must
be the kapitan-pasha himself. But she was mistaken.
Her delight at the approach of the barge, which she
fondly hoped would prove the means of her deliverance
from the island, was only equaled by the surprise of
those on board at beholding a beautiful and elegantly
dressed lady, unattended and alone, on the seashore,
as if awaiting their arrival. And, during the
few minutes which now elapsed ere the barge touched
the strand, it was evident that the high functionary
seated beneath the canopy surveyed Nisida with increasing
wonder and admiration; while she, on her side, could
not help noticing that he was remarkably handsome,
very young, and possessing a countenance rather of
an Italian than a Turkish cast of features.
Meantime a profound silence, broken
only by the slight and uniform sounds produced by
the oars, prevailed: and when the boat touched
the strand, a long and wide plank, covered with velvet,
was so placed as to enable the high functionary before
alluded to to land conveniently. Attended by
two slaves, who followed at a respectful distance,
the Mussulman chief advanced toward Nisida, whom he
saluted in a manner which strengthened her suspicion
that he was not of Turkish origin, although habited
in the richest Oriental costume she had ever seen,
and evidently holding some very superior office among
the Ottomans. She returned his salutation with
a graceful bow and a sweet smile: and he immediately
addressed her in the Italian tongue her
own dear and delightful language, saying, “Lady,
art thou the queen of this land? or art thou, as appearances
would almost lead one to conjecture, a solitary inhabitant
here?”
For he saw that she was alone beheld
no traces of culture; and there was but one miserable
dwelling, and that such as she might have built up
with her own hands. Nisida shook her head mournfully,
making signs that she was deaf and dumb. The
Mussulman chief uttered an ejaculation of mingled
surprise and grief, and surveyed the lady with additional
interest and admiration. But in a few moments
his countenance assumed a sudden expression of astonishment,
as if a light had broken in upon him, suggesting something
more than a mere suspicion nay, indeed,
a positive conviction; and having examined her features
with the most earnest attention, he abruptly took
his tablets from the folds of his garment, and wrote
something on them. He then handed them to Nisida;
and it was now her turn to experience the wildest
surprise for on the page opened to her
view were these words, traced in a beautiful style
of calligraphy, and in the Italian language:
“Is it possible that your ladyship can be the
Donna Nisida of Riverola?”
Nisida’s eyes wandered in astonishment
from the tablets to the countenance of him who had
penciled that question; but his features were certainly
not familiar to her and yet she thought
that there was something in the general expression
of that handsome face not altogether unknown to her.
As soon as she had partially recovered from the surprise
and bewilderment produced by finding that she at least
was known to the Ottoman functionary, she wrote beneath
his question the following reply: “I am
indeed Nisida of Riverola, who for seven long months
have been the only inhabitant of this island, whereon
I was shipwrecked, and I am now anxious to return
to Italy or at all events to the first Christian
port at which your fleet may touch. Have mercy
upon me, then; and take me hence! But who are
you, signor, that I should prove no stranger to
you?”
The Ottoman chief read these words,
and hastened to reply in the following manner:
“I have the honor to be the grand vizier of his
imperial highness the glorious Sultan Solyman, and
my name is Ibrahim. A few months ago I encountered
your brother Francisco, Count of Riverola, who was
then in command of a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, raised
to assist in defending Rhodes against the invading
arms of the mighty Solyman. Your brother became
my prisoner, but I treated him worthily. He informed
me with bitter tears of the strange and mysterious
disappearance of his well-beloved sister, who had the
misfortune to be deprived of the faculties of hearing
and speech. Your brother was soon set free, after
the fall of Rhodes, and he returned to his native city.
But from all he told me of thee, lady, it was natural
that I should ere now conjecture who thou must be.”
Ibrahim did not choose to add that
he had remembered to have seen Nisida occasionally
in their native city of Florence, and that he was indeed
the brother of her late dependent, Flora Francatelli.
But the explanation which he did give was quite sufficient
to renew her deepest surprise, as she now learnt for
the first time that during her absence her brother
had been engaged in the perils of warfare. The
grand vizier gently withdrew from Nisida’s hand
the tablets on which her eyes were positively riveted;
but it was only to trace a few lines to afford her
additional explanations. When he returned the
tablets to her again she read as follows: “By
a strange coincidence the glorious fleet which has
wafted me hither to deliver you from this lonely isle,
and which is under the command of the kapitan-pasha
in person, is bound for the western coast of Italy.
Its mission is at present known only to myself and
a faithful Greek dependent; but your ladyship shall
receive worthy attention and be duly conveyed to Leghorn.
The squadron has been driven from its course by a
tempest which assailed us off the island of Candia;
our pilot lost his reckonings, and when land was descried
this morning, it was believed to be the coast of Sicily.
Hast thou, lady, any means of enlightening us as to
the geographical position of this island?”
Nisida answered in the ensuing manner:
“I have not the least notion of the geographical
position of the island. An eternal summer appears
to prevail in this clime, which would be a terrestrial
paradise were not the forests infested by hideous
serpents of an enormous size.”
Ibrahim Pasha, having read this reply,
summoned from the barge the officer in command:
and to him he communicated the intelligence which he
had just received from Nisida. That officer’s
countenance immediately underwent a dreadful change;
and, falling on his knees at Ibrahim’s feet,
he made some strong appeal, the nature of which Nisida
could only divine by its emphatic delivery and the
terrified manner of the individual. Ibrahim smiled
contemptuously, and motioned the officer with an imperious
gesture to rise and return to the barge. Then,
again, having recourse to the tablets, he conveyed
the following information to Nisida: “Lady,
it appears that this is the Isle of Snakes, situated
in the Gulf of Sictra, on the African coast.
Horrible superstitions are attached to this clime:
and I dare not remain longer on its shore, lest I
should seriously offend the prejudices of those ignorant
sailors. Come, then, lady, you shall receive
treatment due to your rank, your beauty, and your
misfortunes.”
In the meantime the officer had returned
to the barge, where whispers speedily circulated in
respect to the land on which that boat had touched;
and the reader may imagine the extent of the loathing
which the mere name of the isle was calculated to
inspire in the breasts of the superstitious Mussulmans,
when we observe that the existence of that island
was well known to the Turks and also to the Africans,
but was left uninhabited, and was never visited knowingly
by any of their ships. Nisida saw that the grand
vizier was in haste to depart, not through any ridiculous
fears on his part, because he was too enlightened to
believe in the fearful tales of mermaids, genii, ghouls,
vampires, and other evil spirits by which the island
was said to be haunted, but because his renegadism
had been of so recent a date that he dared not, powerful
and altered as he was, afford the least ground for
suspecting that the light of Christianity triumphed
in his soul over the dark barbarism of his assumed
creed. Seeing, then, that Ibrahim Pasha was anxious
to yield to the superstitious feelings of the sailors,
Nisida intimated, with a graceful bend of the head,
her readiness to accompany him. But, as she advanced
toward the boat, she cast a rapid and searching glance
behind her. Alas! Wagner appeared not.
A feeling of uneasiness, amounting
almost to a pang of remorse, took possession of her,
as she placed her foot upon the velvet-covered plank;
and for an instant she hesitated to proceed.
Could she abandon Fernand to the solitude
of that isle? Could she renounce the joys which
his love had taught her to experience? And might
she not be enabled to persuade him to make that sacrifice
which would invest him with a power that she herself
would direct and wield according to her own pleasure
and suitably to her own interests? But, oh! that
hesitation lasted not more than a moment; for her feet
were on the plank leading to the barge, and at a short
distance floated the ship that would bear her away
from the isle.
One longing, lingering look upon the
shore of that island where she had enjoyed so much
happiness, even if she had experienced so much anxiety;
one longing, lingering look, and she hesitated no more.
Ibrahim escorted her to a seat beneath the velvet
canopy; the officer in command gave the signal, the
barge was shoved off, the rowers plied their oars,
and the island was already far behind, ere Nisida
had the courage to glance toward it again!