wn and hostile purpose. It was
perplexing, to say the least of it; and Nisida determined to adopt all
possible precautions against her secret enemies, whoever they might be.

She accordingly arose from her seat--put off her upper garment--donned
her thin but strong corselet--and then assumed the black velvet robe
which reached up to her throat, concealing the armor beneath. Her
flexible dagger--that fatal weapon which had dealt death to the
unfortunate Agnes--was next thrust into the sheath formed by the wide
border of her stomacher; and Nisida smiled with haughty triumph as if in
defiance to her foes. She then repaired to one of the splendid saloons
of the mansion; and ere she sat down to the repast that was served up,
she dispatched a note acquainting Dr. Duras with her return, and
requesting his immediate presence. In about half an hour the physician
arrived, and his joy at beholding Nisida again was only equaled by his
impatience to learn the cause of her long absence and all that had
befallen her during the interval.

She made a sign for the old man to follow her to the retirement of her
own apartments; and then, having closed the door, she said to him in a
low tone, "Doctor, we will converse by means of signs no more; for,
though still forced to simulate the deaf and dumb in the presence of the
world, yet now--with you, who have all along known my terrible
secret--our discourse must be too important to be carried on by mere
signs."

"Nisida," returned Duras, also in a low and cautious tone, "thou knowest
that I love thee as if thou wast my own daughter; and thy voice sounds
like music upon my ears. But when will the dreadful necessity which
renders thee dumb before the world--when will it cease, Nisida?"

"Soon--soon, doctor--if thou wilt aid me," answered the lady.

A long and earnest conversation then ensued; but it is not necessary to
give the details to the reader, inasmuch as their nature will soon
transpire. Suffice it to say that Nisida urged a particular request,
which she backed by such explanation and we must also say
misrepresentations as she thought suitable to her purpose; and that Dr.
Duras eventually, though not without compunction and hesitation, at
length acceded to her prayer. She then gave him a brief account of her
abduction from Florence by the villain Stephano--her long residence on
the island of snakes--and her deliverance from thence by the Ottoman
fleet, which was now off the port of