that produced by giving full sway to an exuberant
imagination. The bewilderment resists every effort of reason, and in its
onward course carries away its victims with all the force of a mountain
torrent. A winding stair, long unused and partly dilapidated, led to the
end of the terrace where she stood, and Massy, yielding to some strange
impulse, slowly and noiselessly crept up this till he gained a spot only
a few yards removed from her. The dark shadow of the building almost
completely concealed his figure, and left him free to contemplate her
unnoticed.

Some event of interest within had withdrawn all from the terrace
save herself; the whole balcony was suddenly deserted, and she alone
remained, to all seeming lost to the scene around her. It was then that
she removed her mask, and suffering it to fall back on her neck, rested
her head pensively on her hand. Massy bent over eagerly to try and catch
sight of her face; the effort he made startled her, she looked round,
and he cried out, "Ida--Ida! My heart could not deceive me!" In another
instant he had climbed the balcony and was beside her.

"I thought we had parted forever, Sebastian," said she; "you told me so
on the last night at Massa."

"And so I meant when I said it," cried he; "nor is our meeting now of my
planning. I came to Florence, it is true, to see, but not to speak with
you, ere I left Europe forever. For three entire days I have searched
the city to discover where you lived, and chance--I have no better name
for it--chance has led me hither."

"It is an unkind fortune that has made us meet again," said she, in a
voice of deep melancholy.

"I have never known fortune in any other mood," said he, fiercely. "When
clouds show me the edge of their silver linings, I only prepare myself
for storm and hurricane."

"I know you have endured much," said she, in a voice of deeper sadness.

"You know but little of what I have endured," rejoined he, sternly.
"You saw me taunted, indeed, with my humble calling, insulted for my low
birth, expelled ignominiously from a house where my presence had been
sought for; and yet all these, grievous enough, are little to other
evils I have had to bear."

"By what unhappy accident, what mischance, have you made _her_ your
enemy, Sebastian? She would not even suffer me to speak to you. She
went so far as to tell me that there was a reason for the dislike,--one
which, if she could reveal, I would never question."

"Ho