tion of joy.

She saw him--she beheld him: and her speed was checked in an instant
with the overpowering emotion of wonder and delight.

Then, as he hurried along the verge of the forest to encounter her--to
fold her in his fond embrace--to protect her,--she once more sprung
forward, with outstretched arms, to fly into his arms, which were open
to receive her. But at that instant there was a horrible rustling amidst
the foliage of the huge tree beneath which she was hastening on;--a
monstrous snake darted down with a gushing sound, and in another moment
the beauteous form of Nisida was encircled by its hideous coils.

Then fled that wondrous self-command which for long years she had
exercised with such amazing success:--then vanished from her mind all
the strong motives which had induced her to undertake so terrible a
martyrdom as that of simulating the loss of two faculties most dear and
most valuable to all human beings;--and with a cry of ineffable anguish,
she exclaimed, "_Fernand, save me! save me!_"

CHAPTER XLIII.

NISIDA AND WAGNER.

Oh! with what astonishment and joy would Wagner have welcomed the sound
of that voice, so long hushed, and now so musical even in its rending
agony,--had not such an appalling incident broken the spell that for
years had sealed the lips of his beloved! But he had no time for
thought--there was not a moment for reflection. Nisida lay senseless on
the ground, with the monster coiled around her--its long body hanging
down from the bough to which it was suspended by the tail.
Simultaneously with the cry of anguish that had come from the lips of
Nisida, exclamations of horror burst alike from Wagner and Stephano.

The latter stood transfixed as it were for a few moments, his eyes
glaring wildly on the dreadful spectacle before him; then, yielding to
the invincible terror that had seized upon him, he hurled away the
sword--knowing not what he did in the excitement of his mind, and fled!
But the gleaming of the naked weapon in the sunbeams met Wagner's eyes
as it fell, and darting toward it, he grasped it with a firm
hand--resolving also to use it with a stout heart. Then he advanced
toward the snake, which was comparatively quiescent--that portion of its
long body which hung between the tree and the first coil that it made
round the beauteous form of Nisida alone moving; and this motion was a
waving kind of oscillation, like that of a bell-rope which a person
holds by the