addressed them severally, he extended his
hands to bless them; and they received that blessing with holy meekness,
and yet with a joyous feeling which appeared to be of glorious augury
for their future happiness. Then, obedient to the command of the
stranger, they slowly quitted the apartment--urged to yield to his will
by a secret influence which they could not resist, but which
nevertheless animated them with a pious confidence in the integrity of
his purpose. The door closed behind them, and Christian Rosencrux
remained in the room with the dead Wagner and the dying Nisida.

CHAPTER LXIV.

While the incidents related in the last few chapters were taking place
at the Riverola Palace, the council of state had assembled to receive
the grand vizier, the mighty Ibrahim, who had signified his intention of
meeting that august body at three o'clock in the afternoon. Accordingly,
as soon as he had witnessed the marriage ceremony which united his
sister to the Count of Riverola, he returned from Wagner's mansion to
his own pavilion in the midst of the Ottoman encampment. There he
arrayed him in a manner becoming his exalted rank, and mounting his
splendid caparisoned steed, he repaired with a brilliant escort to the
ducal palace. The streets of the city of Florence were thronged with
multitudes eager to gain a sight of the representative of the sultan--a
view of the man whose will and pleasure swayed the greatest empire in
existence at that period of the world's age!

And as Ibrahim passed through those avenues so well known to
him--threaded those thoroughfares, each feature of which was so
indelibly impressed upon his memory--and beheld many, many familiar
spots, all of which awakened in his mind reminiscences of a happy
childhood, and of years gone by; when, too, he reflected that he had
quitted Florence poor, obscure, and unmarked amidst the millions of his
fellow-men; and that now, as he entered the beauteous city, multitudes
came forth to gaze upon him, as on one invested with a high rank and
enjoying a power mighty to do much; when he thought of all this, his
bosom swelled with mingled emotions of pride and tenderness, regret and
joy; and while tears trembled upon his long black lashes, a smile of
haughty triumph played on his lips. On, on the procession goes, through
the crowded streets and across the spacious squares, watched by the eyes
of transcendent beauty and proud aristocracy from the balconies of
pala