Nisida quitted the room, and repaired to the apartment where the morning repast was served up.

A note, addressed to herself, lay upon the table. She instantly recognized the handwriting of Dr. Duras, tore open the billet, and read the contents as follows:

"My brother Angelo came to me very late last night and informed me that a sense of imperious duty compelled him to change his mind relative to the two women Francatelli. He accordingly appeared on their behalf, and obtained a delay of eight days.

But nothing can save them from condemnation at the end of this period, unless indeed immense interests be made on their account with the duke. My brother alone deserves your blame, dear friend; let not your anger fall on your affectionate and devoted servant.

"JERONYMO DURAS."

Nisida bit her lips with vexation. She now regretted she had effected the liberation of Francis...o...b..fore she was convinced that Flora was past the reach of human mercy;--but, in the next moment she resumed her haughty composure, as she said within herself, "My brother may essay all _his_ influence: but mine shall prevail!"

Scarcely had she established this determination in her mind, when the door was burst open, and Francisco--pale, ghastly, and with eyes wandering wildly--staggered into the apartment.

Nisida, who really felt deeply on his account, sprung forward--received him in her arms--and supported him to a seat.

"Oh! Nisida, Nisida!" he exclaimed aloud, in a tone expressive of deep anguish; "what will become of your unfortunate brother? But it is not you who have done this! No--for you were not in Florence at the time which beheld the cruel separation of Flora and myself!"

And, throwing himself on his sister's neck, he burst into tears. He had apostrophized her in the manner just related, not because he fancied that she could hear or understand him; but because he forgot, in the maddening paroxysms of his grief, that Nisida was (as he believed) deaf and dumb! She wound her arms round him--she pressed him to her bosom--she covered his pale forehead with kisses; while her heart bled at the sight of his alarming sorrow.

Suddenly he started up--flung his arms wildly about--and exclaimed, in a frantic voice, "Bring me my steel panoply! give me my burgonet--my cuira.s.s--and my trusty sword;--and let me arouse all Florence to a sense of its infamy in permitting that terrible inquisition to exist! Bring me my armor, I say--the same sword I wielded on the walls of Rhodes--and I will soon gather a trusty band to aid me!"

But, overcome with excitement, he fell forward--dashing his head violently upon the floor, before Nisida could save him. She pealed the silver bell that was placed upon the breakfast-table, and a.s.sistance soon came. Francisco was immediately conveyed to his chamber--Dr. Duras was sent for--and on his arrival, he p.r.o.nounced the young n.o.bleman to be laboring under a violent fever. The proper medical precautions were adopted; and the physician was in a few hours able to declare that Francisco was in no imminent danger, but that several days would elapse ere he could possibly become convalescent. Nisida remained by his bedside, and was most a.s.siduous--most tender--most anxious in her attentions toward him; and when he raved, in his delirium, of Flora and the inquisition, it went to her very heart to think that she was compelled by a stern necessity to abstain from exerting her influence to procure the release of one whose presence would prove of far greater benefit to the sufferer than all the anodynes and drugs which the skill of Dr. Duras might administer!

CHAPTER LXII.

THE SICK-ROOM--FLORENCE IN DISMAY.

It was about an hour past daybreak on the 1st of October,--five days after the incidents related in the three preceding chapters. Nisida, worn out with long watchings and vigils in her brother's chamber, had retired to her own apartment; but not before she had seen Francisco fall into a sleep which, under the influence of a narcotic ordered by the physician, promised to be long and soothing. The lady had not quitted the chamber of the invalid ten minutes, when the door was slightly opened; and some one's looks were plunged rapidly and searchingly into the room:--then the visitor, doubtless satisfied by the result of his survey, stole cautiously in.

He advanced straight up to the table which stood near the bed, drew a small vial from the bosom of his doublet--and poured its crystal contents into the beverage prepared to quench the thirst of the invalid.

Then, as he again secured the vial about his person, he murmured, "The medicament of Christian Rosencrux will doubtless work greater wonders than those of Dr. Duras, skilled though the latter be!"

Having thus mused to himself, the visitor shook Francisco gently; and the young count awoke, exclaiming petulantly that he was athirst. A goblet of the beverage containing the Rosicrucian fluid, was immediately conveyed to his lips, and he drank the refreshing draught with eagerness.

The effect was marvelous, indeed;--a sudden tinge of healthy red appeared upon the cheeks a moment before so ashy pale--and fire once more animated the blue eyes--and Francisco recovered complete consciousness and self-possession for the first time since the dread morning when he was attacked with a dangerous illness.

He closed his eyes for a few minutes; and when he opened them again, he was surprised to perceive by his bedside a young, well-attired, and very handsome man, whose countenance appeared to be familiar to him.

"Count of Riverola," said the visitor, bending over him, and speaking in a low but kind tone, "despair not! Succor is at hand--and ere forty-eight hours shall have pa.s.sed away, your well-beloved Flora will be free!"

Joy lighted up the countenance of the young n.o.bleman, as these delightful words met his ears; and, seizing his consoler's hand, he exclaimed:

"A thousand thanks for this a.s.surance! But, have we not met before?--or was it in those wild dreams which have haunted my imagination that I have seen thee?"

"Yes--we have met before, count," was the reply. "Dost thou not remember Fernand Wagner?"

Francisco pa.s.sed his hand across his brow, as if to settle his scattered thoughts: then, at the expiration of a few moments, he said: "Oh! yes--I recollect you--I know that I had conceived a great friendship for you, when some strange incident--I cannot remember what, and it is of no matter--parted us!"

"Do not excite yourself too much by racking your memory to decipher the details of the past," returned Wagner. "I dare not stay another minute with you now: therefore listen attentively to what more I have to say.

Yield yourself not up to despondency--on the contrary, cherish every hope that is dear to you. Within a few days Flora shall be yours!

Yes--solemnly do I a.s.sure you that all shall take place as I affirm. But YOUR agency is not needed to insure her liberation: Heaven will make use of OTHER means. Compose your mind, then,--and suffer not yourself to be tortured by vain fears as to the future. Above all, keep my visit to thee a profound secret--intimate not to thy sister Nisida that thou hast seen me. Follow my counsel in all these respects--and happiness is in store for thee!"

Fernand pressed the young count's hand warmly as he terminated these rapidly delivered injunctions, and then retreated from the chamber ere the invalid had time to utter a syllable indicative of his grat.i.tude.

But how different was Francisco now--how different did Nisida find him, on her return to his room, from what he was when she had left him two hours before! Nor less was Dr. Duras astonished, at his next visit, to perceive that his patient had made in those two hours as rapid strides toward convalescence as he could barely have hoped to see accomplished in a week.

In obedience to a hint rapidly conveyed by a signal from Nisida to the physician, the latter touched gently upon the subject of Flora Francatelli; but Francisco, resolute in his endeavors to follow the advice of Fernand Wagner, and to avoid all topics calculated to excite, responded briefly, and immediately spoke on another matter.

But he did not think the less deeply on that interesting subject. No; he cherished the image of his Flora, and the hope of being yet united to her, with an enthusiasm which a love so ardent as his pa.s.sion alone could feel.

And Nisida congratulated herself on the conviction which she now very naturally entertained, that he had resigned himself to the loss of the young maiden, and was exerting his utmost to banish her altogether from his memory!

Throughout the day Francisco continued to improve rapidly, and on the following morning he was enabled to leave his couch. Indeed, his recovery was so marvelously quick that Dr. Duras considered it to be a perfect phenomenon in the history of medicine; and Nisida looked upon the physician, whom she conceived to be the author of this remarkable change, with unfeigned admiration.

It was verging toward the hour of sunset, the 2d of October, when a rumor of a most alarming nature circulated with the celerity of wild-fire through the city of Florence. At first the report was received with contemptuous incredulity; but by degrees--as circ.u.mstances tended to confirm it--as affrighted peasants came flying into the town from their country homes, bearing the dread tidings, the degenerate and voluptuous Florentines gave way to all the terrors which, in such cases, were too well adapted to fill the hearts of an emasculated people with dismay.

For, while the dwellers of the City of Flowers were thinking only of the gay festival which invariably commenced their winter season, while the n.o.bles and wealthy burghers were whiling their time pleasantly in the regilding and decoration of their palaces or mansions, while the duke was projecting splendid banquets, and the members of the council of state were dreaming of recreation and enjoyment, rather than of the duties of office, while, too, preparations were being made for the approaching _auto-da-fe_--that terrible spectacle which the inquisition annually offered to the morbid tastes of a priest-ridden people--while, in a word, Florence seemed wrapped up in security and peace--at such a moment the astounding intelligence arrived, that a mighty army was within a few hours' march of the sovereign city of Tuscany!

Yes; this was the news that suddenly spread confusion and dismay throughout Florence, the news which told how the Ottoman fleet, for some days past moored off the port of Leghorn, had vomited forth legions, and how the formidable force was approaching at a rapid rate, under the command of the grand vizier in person, the seraskier and sipehsalar of the armies of the sultan!

The moment these things were bruited abroad in the city, Demetrius, the Greek, fled secretly; for he too well understood that his treacherous intentions had, in some unaccountable manner, transpired, and reached the ears of Ibrahim Pasha. Nisida was perfectly astounded; and, for the first time in her life, she felt her energies paralyzed--all her powers of combination suddenly laid prostrate. As for Francisco, he could not help thinking that the invasion of Italy by the Turks was connected with the succor so mysteriously, but confidently promised by Wagner; although he was not only ignorant of the relationship subsisting between the grand vizier and his beloved Flora, but was even unaware of the fact that this high functionary was the same Ibrahim whose prisoner he had been for a few hours on a former occasion in the Island of Rhodes.

The council of state a.s.sembled to deliberate upon the proper course which should be adopted at so critical a moment; but when the resources of Florence and the means of resisting the invaders were scrutinized, when it was discovered that there were not three thousand soldiers to defend the place, nor arms sufficient to equip more than fifteen hundred volunteers in addition to the regular force, all idea of attempting to make a stand against an army which was in reality twenty thousand strong, but which the exaggerations of fear had trebled in amount, was ultimately abandoned.

The sun went down, and was succeeded by no illuminations that night.

Florence was in mourning. A spell had fallen upon the City of Flowers; her streets were deserted; and within the houses, those who possessed wealth were busily engaged in concealing their gold and jewels in cellars, holes dug in the ground, or at the bottom of wells. The general consternation was terrific indeed; and the solemn stillness which prevailed throughout the town so lately full of animation and happiness was even more dreadful than that which had accompanied the plague two centuries before.

It was near midnight when messengers from the grand vizier, who was now within three miles' march of the city, arrived at the western gate, and demanded admission, that they might obtain an immediate audience of the duke. The request was directly complied with, and the envoys were conducted to the palazzo, where the prince immediately a.s.sembled the council of state to receive them, himself presiding.

The audience was in other respects strictly private; but the nature of the interview was soon proved to have been most unexpectedly pacific; for two hours after the reception of the envoys, criers proceeded throughout the city, proclaiming the joyful news that the grand vizier had of his own accord proposed such terms as the council of state had not hesitated to accept.

Thus, at two o'clock in the morning, were the Florentines at first alarmed by hearing the monotonous voices of the criers breaking upon the solemn stillness; but their fear changed into gladness ineffable, ere those functionaries had uttered a dozen words of the proclamation which they were intrusted to make.

What the terms were did not immediately transpire; but two circ.u.mstances which occurred ere it was daybreak, and which, though conducted with considerable secrecy, nevertheless soon became generally known--these circ.u.mstances, we say, afforded ample scope for comment and gossip.

The first was the occupation of the Riverola Palace by the Ottoman soldiers who had accompanied Demetrius as an escort, and whom he had left in Florence; and the second was the fact that two females, closely m.u.f.fled up, were removed from the prison of the inquisition, and delivered over to the charge of the grand vizier's messengers, who conveyed them out of the city.

But the curiosity excited by these incidents was absorbed in the general anxiety that was evinced by the Florentine people to feast their eyes with the grand, interesting, and imposing spectacle which the dawn of day revealed to their view.

For, far as the eye could reach, on the western side of Florence, and commencing at the distance of about a quarter of a mile from the city, a ma.s.s of innumerable tents and pavilions showed where the Ottoman army was encamped! Myriads of banners, of all colors, floated from the tall javelins to which they were affixed before the entrance of the chief officers' tents, and in front of the entire encampment waved, at the summit of a spear planted in the ground, the three crescents, which invariably accompany the march of a Turkish army. The sunbeams glittered on thousands of bright crescents; and the brazen pommels of the mounted sentinels' saddles shone like burnished gold. It was, indeed, a grand and imposing spectacle:--and the din of innumerable voices mingling with the sounds of martial music, reached the ears of those Florentines who, more daring than the rest, advanced nearly up to the outposts of the encampment.

But in the meantime, a scene of profound and touching interest had taken place in the gorgeous pavilion of the grand vizier.

While it was yet dark--and ere that martial panorama of tents and pavilions developed itself to the admiring and astonished eyes of the Florentines--two females, closely m.u.f.fled in handsome cashmere shawls, which had been presented to them for the purpose, were treading the Ottoman encampment, under the guidance of the messengers to whom they had been consigned.