st interest, to consign the object of
his boyish love to the convent of the Carmelites? Yes, and it was with
surprise and dismay incredible that I heard, ere I was torn away from
Florence by the villain Stephano, how that convent was sacked and
destroyed by unknown marauders----"

"Full intelligence of which terrible sacrilege you communicated to me by
signs the second and last time you visited me in my dungeon," observed
Wagner.

"And I heard also, with increased fear," continued Nisida, "that some of
the inmates of that convent had escaped; and, being unable, in
consequence of my simulated deafness and dumbness, to set on foot the
necessary inquiries, I could not learn whether Flora Francatelli was
amongst those who had so escaped the almost general ruin. O! if she
should have survived that fatal night--and if she should have again
encountered my brother! Alas! thou perceivest, my Fernand, how necessary
it is for me to quit the island on the first occasion which may serve
for that purpose!"

"And wouldst thou, Nisida," asked Wagner reproachfully, "place thyself
as a barrier between the Count of Riverola and her whom he loves?"

"Yes!" ejaculated Nisida, her countenance suddenly assuming a stern and
imperious expression: "for the most important interests are involved in
the marriage which he may contract. But enough of this, Fernand," she
added, relapsing into a more tender mood. "And now tell me--canst thou
blame me for the longing desire which has seized upon me--the ardent
craving to return to Florence?"

"Nay--I do not blame thee, dearest Nisida!" he exclaimed; "but I pity
thee--I feel for thee! Because," he continued, "if I understand rightly,
thou wilt be compelled to feign deafness and dumbness once more, in
order to work out thy mysterious aims;--thou wilt be compelled to submit
to that awful martyrdom--that terrible duplicity which thou wilt find so
painful and difficult to resume, after the full enjoyment of the blessed
faculties of speech and hearing."

"Alas! such will be my duty!" murmured Nisida; "and oh! that destiny is
a sad one! But," she exclaimed, after a moment's pause, and as a
reminiscence appeared suddenly to strike her, "dost thou not think that
even such a destiny as that becomes tolerable, when it is fulfilled as
the only means of carrying out the conditions of a vow breathed to a
well-beloved and dying mother? But wearisome--oh! crushingly tedious was
that mode of existence;--and the f