some time the lady remained seated
gloomily upon the sand; but as hour after hour passed away, and the sun
went down, and the moon gathered power to light the enchanting scene of
landscape and of sea, she grew uneasy and restless. Throughout that
night she wandered up and down on the sands, now weeping at the thought
that she herself had been unkind--then angry at the conviction that
Fernand was treating her more harshly than she deserved.

It was not till the sun was high in the heavens that Wagner reappeared;
and though Nisida was in reality delighted to find all her wild alarms,
in which the monstrous snakes of the isle entered largely, thus
completely dissipated, yet she concealed the joy which she experienced
in beholding his safe return, and received him with gloomy hauteur. Oh!
how her conduct went to Wagner's heart!--for he knew that, so long as
the direful necessity which had compelled his absence remained
unexplained, Nisida was justified in attributing that absence to unkind
feelings and motives on his part. A thousand times that day was he on
the point of throwing himself at her feet and revealing all the details
of that frightful destiny; but he dared not--oh! no, he dared not--and a
profound melancholy seized upon his soul. Nisida now relented, chiefly
because she herself felt miserable by the contemplation of his
unhappiness; and harmony was restored between them.

But during the fourth month of their union, the lady began to speak more
frequently and frankly of the weariness and monotony of their present
existence; and when Fernand essayed to console her, she responded by
deep-drawn sighs. His love was based on those enduring elements which
would have rendered him content to dwell forever with Nisida on that
island, which had no sameness for him so long as she was there to be his
companion; but _her_ love subsisted rather sensually than mentally; and
now that her fierce and long-pent up desires had experienced
gratification, she longed to return to the land of her birth, to embrace
her brother Francisco; yes, even though she should be again compelled to
simulate the deaf and dumb. The close of the fourth month was at hand,
and Wagner was at a loss how to act. New excuses for a fresh absence
were impossible; and it was with a heart full of anguish that he was
compelled to seize an opportunity in the afternoon of the last day of
the month, to steal away from Nisida and hasten across the mountains.
Oh! wh