tention to what I am going to say to you.
This little fool of a Nisida persists in wanting me to speak to her
father. I made her believe that I was going away this evening to fetch
my papers. There is no time to lose. They know you very well at the
fisherman's. You will pour this liquid into their wine; your life will
answer for your not giving them a larger dose than enough to produce a
deep sleep. You will take care to prepare me a good ladder for to-night;
after which you will go and wait for me in my boat, where you will find
Numa and Bonaroux. They have my orders. I shall not want you in scaling
the fortress; I have my Campo Basso dagger."

"But, my lord---" stammered Trespolo, astounded.

"No difficulties!" cried the prince, stamping his foot furiously, "or, by
my father's death, I will cure you, once for all, of your scruples." And
he turned on his heel with the air of a man who is certain that people
will be very careful not to disobey his orders.

The unhappy Trespolo fulfilled his master's injunctions punctually. With
him fear was the guiding principle. That evening the fisherman's supper
table was hopelessly dull, and the sham pilgrim tried in vain to enliven
it by factitious cheerfulness. Nisida was preoccupied by her lover's
departure, and Solomon, sharing unconsciously in his daughter's grief,
swallowed but a drop or two of wine, to avoid resisting the repeated
urgency of his guest. Gabriel had set out in the morning for Sorrento
and was not to return for two or three days; his absence tended to
increase the old man's melancholy. As soon as Trespolo had retired, the
fisherman yielded to his fatigue. Nisida, with her arms hanging by her
sides, her head heavy and her heart oppressed by a sad presentiment, had
scarcely strength to go up to her room, and after having mechanically
trimmed the lamp, sank on her bed as pale and stiff as a corpse.

The storm was breaking out with violence; one of those terrible storms
seen only in the South, when the congregated clouds, parting suddenly,
shed torrents of rain and of hail, and threaten another deluge. The roar
of the thunder drew nearer and was like the noise of a cannonade. The
gulf, lately so calm and smooth that the island was reflected as in a
mirror, had suddenly darkened; the furiously leaping waves flung
themselves together like wild horses; the island quaked, shaken by
terrible shocks. Even the boldest fishermen had drawn their boats
ashor