me
astray. You desire marriage. That must not, cannot be! I am weak and
giddy; but no severity of torment shall make me a faithless villain! My
wife is good; I am indebted to her for all my earthly prosperity
and happiness. She has already suffered too much through my
inconstancy,--and rather should this hand wither than I would repudiate
Aliande for the purpose of pledging it to another; even were that other
the divine Rosamunda.'

Once more she threw her arms around him in a last effort to subdue his
heart;--and while he was vainly striving to escape from her embrace,
the grotto was suddenly illuminated by torches, and the lord of the
castle stood before him surrounded by knights and servants, and foaming
with rage.

'What do I see!' thundered he: 'What shame and disgrace are visited
upon my gray hairs! Rosamunda in this solitary grotto under the mantle
of night, in the arms of a youthful stranger! My house is forever
degraded and my lineage dishonored!'

'Your daughter is innocent and inviolate,' answered Ryno; 'and her lips
will inform you, that no unworthy knight now stands before you.'

'You are in error, my good father,' cried Rosamunda, embracing his
knees with anguish; 'Ryno is already married!'

'Married!' growled the old man, repulsing his daughter with a violence
that caused her to sink to the earth in a swoon: 'Married! Then is my
daughter's dishonor beyond remedy! That word decides your fate, Ryno!
and you shall feel how the abuser of the laws of hospitality is
punished in Arno's castle. Seize him, slaves! bind the wretch in
fetters!'

Ryno's hand rushed to his side, but having thrown off his sword for the
dance, he found no weapon there. He struggled manfully against the
rabble host however, until he was finally overcome, cast upon the
ground, bound, and thrown into a deep dungeon beneath the castle.

He lay upon mouldering straw, confined with clanking chains which were
made fast to the wall. A dim lamp lighted the place clearly enough to
show all its horrors. 'This is undeserved!' cried Ryno, as his eye
wandered about his new residence and finally rested upon the heavy iron
door. 'How many times have heavenly enjoyments rewarded my
faithlessness to my Aliande; and now that I, for the first time, have
conducted myself as became a virtuous knight, I sigh in these chains.
If dame fortune will persist in such blindness and stupidity, I shall
take care how I trust her hereafter!'

The prisoner had