The Ottoman chief read these words, and hastened to reply in the
following manner: "I have the honor to be the grand vizier of his
imperial highness the glorious Sultan Solyman, and my name is Ibrahim. A
few months ago I encountered your brother Francisco, Count of Riverola,
who was then in command of a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, raised to
assist in defending Rhodes against the invading arms of the mighty
Solyman. Your brother became my prisoner, but I treated him worthily. He
informed me with bitter tears of the strange and mysterious
disappearance of his well-beloved sister, who had the misfortune to be
deprived of the faculties of hearing and speech. Your brother was soon
set free, after the fall of Rhodes, and he returned to his native city.
But from all he told me of thee, lady, it was natural that I should ere
now conjecture who thou must be."

Ibrahim did not choose to add that he had remembered to have seen Nisida
occasionally in their native city of Florence, and that he was indeed
the brother of her late dependent, Flora Francatelli. But the
explanation which he did give was quite sufficient to renew her deepest
surprise, as she now learnt for the first time that during her absence
her brother had been engaged in the perils of warfare. The grand vizier
gently withdrew from Nisida's hand the tablets on which her eyes were
positively riveted; but it was only to trace a few lines to afford her
additional explanations. When he returned the tablets to her again she
read as follows: "By a strange coincidence the glorious fleet which has
wafted me hither to deliver you from this lonely isle, and which is
under the command of the kapitan-pasha in person, is bound for the
western coast of Italy. Its mission is at present known only to myself
and a faithful Greek dependent; but your ladyship shall receive worthy
attention and be duly conveyed to Leghorn. The squadron has been driven
from its course by a tempest which assailed us off the island of Candia;
our pilot lost his reckonings, and when land was descried this morning,
it was believed to be the coast of Sicily. Hast thou, lady, any means of
enlightening us as to the geographical position of this island?"

Nisida answered in the ensuing manner: "I have not the least notion of
the geographical position of the island. An eternal summer appears to
prevail in this clime, which would be a terrestrial paradise were not
the forests infested by hideous serpents of an en