sly, "Oh! how handsome--how god-like art thou, my
Fernand! Pardon me--pardon me, that I should ever have nursed resentment
against thee!"

It was when she was in such a mood as this that he murmured in her ears,
"Nisida dearest, thou hast thy secret which I have never sought to
penetrate. I also have my secret, beloved one, as I hinted to thee on
that day which united us in this island; and into that mystery of mine
thou mayest not look. But at certain intervals I must absent myself from
thee for a few hours, as I hitherto have done; and on my return, O
dearest Nisida! let me not behold that glorious countenance of thine
clouded with anger and with gloom!"

Then ere she could utter a word of reply, he sealed her lips with
kisses--he pressed her fervently to his heart, and at that moment she
thought he seemed so divinely handsome, and she felt so proud of
possessing the love of a man invested with such superhuman beauty and
such a splendid intellect, that she attempted not a remonstrance nor a
complaint against what was but the preface to a fifth absence of
four-and-twenty hours. And when Fernand Wagner reappeared again, his
Nisida hastened to meet him as he descended from the mountains--those
mountains which were crossed over by a surefooted and agile man with so
much difficulty, and which he knew it would be impossible for him to
traverse during that mad career in which he was monthly doomed to whirl
along in his lupine shape--yes, she hurried to meet him--receiving him
with open arms--smiled tenderly upon him--and led him to the sea-shore,
where she had spread the noonday meal in the most inviting manner.

The unwearied and unchanging nature of his love had touched her heart;
and, during the long hours of his fifth absence, she had reasoned on the
folly of marring the sweet harmony which should prevail between the only
two human tenants of that island. The afternoon passed more happily than
many and many a previous day had done; Nisida thought that Fernand had
never seemed so handsome, though somewhat pale, and he fancied that his
companion had never appeared so magnificently beautiful as now, while
she lay half reclining in his arms, the rays of the setting sun faintly
illuminating her aquiline countenance, and giving a glossy richness to
the luxuriant black hair which floated negligently over her naked
shoulders.

When the last beams of the orb of day died flickeringly in the far
horizon, the tender pair retired