tations into which he had fallen
during the empty oration of Caneri, by the sonorous and unequivocal
signs of slumber evinced by his colleagues, saw with surprise the
conclusion to which they had unanimously arrived, and casting a look of
contempt on the sleeping councillors, retired to his quarters.

CHAPTER III.

Ite, caldi sospiri, al freddo core;
Rompete il ghiaccio che pieta contende;
E, se prego mortal al ciel s'intende,
Morte, o merce sia fine al mio dolore.

_Petrarca._

He has I know not what
Of greatness in his looks, and of high fate,
That almost awes me.

_Dryden._

Meantime the unfortunate Theodora had spent the day in a continual
succession of sorrows. She had been conducted to another apartment,
somewhat in better order, where she had been pressed in vain to partake
of some food which Marien Rufa with friendly officiousness presented to
her. Sad recollections of her past misfortunes left not an interval of
repose, and her interview with Caneri had awakened in her mind a lively
sense of danger and alarm. Slowly, therefore, and painfully the hours
wore away. She had no alleviation to her distress. The words of comfort
which the hag vainly attempted to administer, would have failed to
sooth, even from the lips of sympathising friends, much more when
surrounded by the avowed and ferocious enemies of her country.

This melancholy day was succeeded by a night still more dreary; for
although worn out with fatigue and suffering, Theodora could find no
respite in the sweet oblivion of sleep. Alas! the feverish slumber that
stole upon her at intervals, was fraught with all the terrors that her
present situation could suggest. The phantoms of night in rapid
succession pressed upon her bewildered imagination: she saw her
venerable father borne down under the pressure of grief, wringing his
withered hands in agony, and pronouncing a direful malediction on his
ungrateful child. She heard that thrilling voice, broken by age, and
quivering with emotion, and on his countenance she beheld the workings
of despair. Fitfully she awoke, and struggled hard to chase away the
heart-rending vision, and then she sunk again to meet another still more
frightful. The wind whistled gloomily through the forest trees; the wild
bird screamed his death song; and a spectre rose with sunken eyes and
squalid cheek, his wounds di