that gavest it me.'

'Gain it once more. The Lord deserted David for a time; still he
pardoned him, and still he died a king.'

'A woman worked his fall.'

'But thee a woman raises. This great Princess, has she not suffered too?
Yet her spirit is still unbroken. List to her counsel: it is deep and
fond.'

'So was our love.'

'And is, my Alroy!' exclaimed the Princess. 'Be calm, I pray thee! For
my sake be calm; I am calm for thine. Thou hast listened to all Honain
has told thee, that wise man, my Alroy, who never erred.

'Tis but a word he counsels, an empty word, a most unmeaning form. But
speak it, and thou art free, and Alroy and Schirene may blend again
their glorious careers and lives of sweet fruition. Dost thou not
remember when, walking in the garden of our joy, and palled with empire,
how often hast thou sighed for some sweet isle unknown to man, where
thou mightst pass thy days with no companion but my faithful self, and
no adventures but our constant loves? O my beloved, that life may still
be thine! And dost thou falter? Dost call thyself forlorn with such
fidelity, and deem thyself a wretch, when Paradise with all its
beauteous gates but woos thy entrance? Oh! no, no, no, no! thou hast
forgot Schirene: I fear me much, thy over-fond Schirene, who doats upon
thy image in thy chains more than she did when those sweet hands of
thine were bound with gems and played with her bright locks!'

'She speaks of another world. I do remember something. Who has sent this
music to a dungeon? My spirit softens with her melting words. My
eyes are moist. I weep! 'Tis pleasant. Sorrow is joy compared with my
despair. I never thought to shed a tear again. My brain is cooler.'

'Weep, weep, I pray thee weep; but let me kiss away thy tears, my soul!
Didst think thy Schirene had deserted thee? Ah! that was it that made
my bird so sad. It shall be free, and fly in a sweet sky, and feed on
flowers with its faithful mate. Ah me! I am once more happy with my boy.
There was no misery but thy absence, sweet! Methinks this dungeon is our
bright kiosk! Is that the sunbeam, or thy smile, my love, that makes the
walls so joyful?'

'Did I smile? I'll not believe it.'

'Indeed you did. Ah! see he smiles again. Why this is freedom! There is
no such thing as sorrow. Tis a lie to frighten fools!'

'Why, Honain, what's this? 'Twould seem I am really joyful. There's
inspiration in her very breath. I am another being. Nay! waste not