*

It was here that Melissa, clad in the form of Atlantes, found him after
many months had gone by, during which Bradamante had sought him vainly.
At last fate brought Melissa again across her path, and from her the
forsaken damsel learnt who it was that kept him from her.

'Be comforted,' said Melissa, when she beheld Bradamante's tears. 'You
yourself have the ring which can free him from those evil spells, and
bring him back to your side. So lend it me, I pray, and by to-morrow's
dawn I will be with him.'

Roger was lying on a bed of soft moss, when Atlantes, for so he took her
to be, stood before him.

He lifted his head lazily, and smiled, but the face of his old master
was grave as he said sternly:

[Illustration: THE TWO DAMSELS RESCUE ROGER FROM THE RABBLE]

'And is it _you_, Roger, whom I find thus, your hair curled and scented,
your neck circled with jewelled chains? Was it for this you passed your
boyhood in waging war against fierce beasts, fearing neither hunger nor
thirst as you tracked them to their lair? But, as I loved you once, I
will give you a chance to shake off this shameful life, and to become
once more worthy of Bradamante. Take this ring, and when next Alcina
comes this way mark well the change that is wrought in the queen of this
fair land.'

With shame and repentance burning at his heart, Roger slowly drew the
ring upon his finger; and by its virtue he beheld not Atlantes but
Melissa.

'Yes, it is I,' she said, 'and it is Bradamante who sent me hither, to
save you by means of the ring which she took from the hand of Brunello.
It will break the strongest spells that wizard ever wove, and open wide
the eyes that have been longest blinded.'

With that she vanished, and Roger rose and followed the path which led
to the palace.

On the marble steps he saw, as he went, a troop of ladies standing.
Their clothes were rich and made of shining stuffs, and well became
their golden hair or curly raven locks; but who was she in their midst
whose form was unknown to him? Her back was bowed with age, and scarce a
hair remained upon her head, while all her skin was shrivelled and
yellow. Roger gazed in horror, expecting, as he looked, the lean body to
crumble into dust before him. Yet something, what he knew not, seemed
not wholly strange in that pale and shrunken figure--something that, in
spite of all, spoke to him of Alcina. A thrill of horror ran through
him, but he remembered in time the c