which shows what was the conversation that passed between periander and auristella.

many and long were the disputes among our little band of pilgrims, whether the marriage of isabella castrucho, effected by so many devices and so much deceit, was valid or not. periander oftentimes repeated that it was so, for that it was not their business to search into the case, but the thing which had displeased him was the mingling of baptism, marriage, and funeral together, and the ignorance of the physician, who had not been skilful enough to see through the trick of isabella, nor to perceive the danger of her uncle. sometimes they discoursed upon these matters, at others they retraced their past dangers. croriano and ruperta were eagerly trying to discover who periander and auristella could be, but they could not succeed in this; constance and antonio they also knew nothing of. they had known who the three french ladies were from the first commencement of their acquaintance.

by easy journeys they reached aqua-pendente, a place near rome. as they approached the town periander and auristella went on a little in advance of the others, out of hearing, and periander spoke thus:—"you know well, dear lady, that the reasons which made us leave our own country and our royalty were as good as they were necessary. already is the air of rome playing on our cheeks, and the hopes that have supported us are beating in our hearts; already it seems to me that i am in possession of the beloved object so long desired. look well, o lady, whether your feelings still remain unchanged; scrutinize well your heart, and see if it is still firm and true to its first intentions, or will be after you have fulfilled your vow, which i doubt not that it will, for your royal blood cannot deceive nor give false promises. let me then hear you say, o lovely sigismunda, that the periander you see before you, is the persiles that you saw in the palace of my royal father; the same persiles who pledged his word to you to be your husband there, and who would gladly fulfil that promise in the deserts of lybia, should our adverse fortune take us there."

auristella looked wonderingly at him, listening attentively to all he said. she marvelled how periander could doubt her truth, and said to him:—"o persiles, in all my life i have never loved but one, that one has been yourself. it is now two years since i gave my heart to you, not perforce, but of my own free-will, and it is as firm and true now as it was the first day i made you master of it. if it were possible that my affection could have increased, it would have done so among the many wanderings and dangers we have gone through together; it gives pleasure to me to hear that you are unchanged in yours for me, and in accomplishing my vow i shall willingly fulfil my promise to you; but tell me, what are we to do afterwards, since we are still bound by the same constraint, and still under the dominion of the same yoke that is about our necks? we are far distant from our homes, and known to none in these countries, without any support to cling to in our need. i do not speak thus, because i lack the courage to suffer any inconveniences or distresses, since it will be with you, but i say it because any trouble you may be in will be mine also; until now my heart has suffered alone, henceforward it will suffer for itself and for you, though i am wrong to talk of two hearts, for are not ours but one?"

"lady," replied periander, "why should we not be the fabricators of our own fortune? they say every man makes his own from beginning to end. i will not answer for what i may do after our happy fate has united us; the inconvenience of our present divided state will soon be over, when we are one; there are fields enough where we can maintain ourselves, cottages wherein we may find shelter and clothes to cover us; for as to the happiness two souls made one, can feel, it is as you say unequalled by any other, and we could not enjoy this more beneath the gilded roofs of a palace. we shall find means to let my mother know where we are, and she will not fail in finding a way to help us, and in the mean time we have an inestimable treasure in our diamond cross, and the two pearls of priceless value which you possess, and which we have no fear of losing, for who would think such treasures could be hid beneath a pilgrim's weeds?"

here they were overtaken by the rest of their party, and the conversation ceased, which was the first they had held upon these kind of subjects; for auristella's excessive modesty and reserve never gave any opportunities to periander to talk to her in private, and thus they had been able to keep up the play of brother and sister with all who knew them. the deceased clodio, alone, had ever suspected the truth.

a part of this and the beginning of second chapter are omitted, and chapter ii. included in chapter i.

the travellers were now approaching rome, the sight of which rejoiced their hearts, and the joy which filled their souls also invigorated their bodies. the hearts of periander and auristella beat tumultuously, as they saw themselves so near the end of all their desires. those of croriana and ruperta, and those of the three french ladies were gladdened at the prospect of a happy termination to their journey, and constance and antonio shared in this feeling of satisfaction.

the sun had reached his meridian height, and the heat was excessively great; there was a little wood to the right of the road, and they determined to go thither and to gain a shelter from the scorching rays which threatened to be intolerable, and to remain there perhaps even for the night, as they did not wish to enter rome till the next day. they went accordingly, and as they advanced further into the wood the pleasantness of the place and the freshness of the herbage, through which clear streams murmured, confirmed them in their first intention. they penetrated so far in, that on looking around, they found they were quite hidden from the sight of any one passing along the public road, and as they were debating where to settle themselves, from the variety of pleasant spots which offered for their choice, all equally peaceful and inviting, auristella, looking up by chance, perceived a picture hanging on the bough of a green willow, about the size of a quarter of a sheet of paper. it was a painting of the face only, of a very beautiful woman; on looking a little closer at the picture she saw clearly that it was her own likeness, and, surprised and wondering, she pointed it out to periander; at the same instant croriano exclaimed, that the ground was wet with blood, and he shewed them his feet all dyed with the crimson hue, and it was yet warm. the picture, which periander instantly took down, and the blood which croriano had discovered, disturbed them greatly, and made them anxious to find out the owner of the one and the cause of the other. auristella was at a loss to divine when and how anybody could have become possessed of her picture, nor did periander recollect that the servant of the duke de nemours had told him that the artist who had painted the portraits of the three french ladies, could also take that of auristella, though he had seen her only once. if he had remembered this, he might easily have come to the conclusion which he did not guess. croriano and antonio followed the track of blood till they came to a sort of thicket or tuft of trees, at the foot of one of which, they saw a man of noble aspect, dressed as a pilgrim, seated on the ground with his hand pressed upon his heart, and covered with blood, a sight which distressed them very greatly to look upon, and still more when it met the eyes of croriano, who went up to him, and raising his head, he discovered a countenance all bleeding and wounded, which, having wiped with a handkerchief, he knew to be the duke de nemours, for in spite of the different dress in which he found him, he recognized him at once, for they were great friends. the wounded duke, or he who appeared to be the duke, without opening his eyes, said in feeble accents, "better, far better would it have been, o thou, whoever thou mayest be, mortal enemy of my peace, had the blow which thou hast struck been through my heart, for there thou wouldst have found a portrait still more vivid and true than the one which thou hast taken from me, and hung upon the tree, that it might not serve as a shield and defence to me in the hour of battle."

constance, who had now come up, being of a tender and compassionate nature, hastened to inspect the wounds of the sufferer, and to staunch the flowing blood, without attending to the complaining words he uttered. meantime periander and auristella, guided also by the same bloody track, had gone on a little further, and discovered among some green rushes, another man, also in pilgrim's weeds, and equally bloody, except his face, which was clean, and exposed to view, and was therefore instantly known by them both to be the prince arnoldo, who lay before them more dead than alive.