the treacherous conduct of polycarp in consequence of zenotia's advice. he loses his kingdom, and she her life. his guests quit the island, and land on the isle of hermits.
all this delay, owing to the length of periander's history, was so contrary to the wishes of polycarp, that he could neither lend it his attention, nor mature his thoughts as to what he should do in order to keep auristella without prejudice to the character he desired to preserve, of a generous and just king. he considered how high was the rank of some of his guests; first and foremost stood arnoldo, the prince of denmark, not by election, but hereditary right. in every word and action of periander, in his noble and spirited demeanour, he plainly discerned some high-born personage; and in the lovely auristella, an equally illustrious lady: he would willingly have accomplished his desire easily, without any circumlocutions or artifices, smoothing all difficulties by the veil of marriage, although his advanced years were, he could not conceal from himself, rather against it. his ideas were participated in and urged on by the artful zenotia, with whom he arranged and agreed that before he gave periander another audience, their plan should be put in execution. this was, to have a feigned alarm raised in the city, in which the palace should be set on fire in two or three places, which would force its inmates to seek for shelter, and throw everybody into confusion, in the midst of which, auristella and the young antonio were to be carried off by persons prepared on purpose, and the lady polycarpa was directed to warn arnoldo and periander of the danger which threatened them, without discovering the intention of a robbery, but showing them a way to save themselves by getting to the shore, where in the harbour they would find a small vessel ready, in which they might make their escape.
the night on which this was to happen, arrived, and at three o'clock in the morning the alarm began, which threw the whole city into confusion and terror. the flames began to blaze out, only equalled by those burning in the royal breast. meanwhile the princess went calmly and composedly to warn arnoldo and periander of the designs of her treacherous and enamoured father, which, however, she did not reveal to the full extent of his dishonourable intentions.
arnoldo and periander on hearing it, called auristella, maurice, transila, ladislaus, the two antonios, ricla, constance, and rutilio, and thanking polycarpa for her advice, they assembled their little party, and putting the men in front, went as she had counselled them to do, and made their way to the harbour without any interruption, where they embarked instantly on board the little vessel, the master and pilot of which had been prepared, and paid beforehand by the king to set sail the moment the persons arrived, who seemed intending to take to flight, and not to stop till they reached england, or some other yet more distant place.
amid the continued cries of "to arms! to arms!" and the shouts of the crowd assembled at the fire, which blazed as though it knew it had the full permission of the master of the palace to do its utmost, polycarp went forth secretly to look after the theft he meditated—the carrying off auristella,—and the sorceress zenotia as anxiously watched for the accomplishment of hers—the detention of antonio; but finding that all the party had made their escape, and that not one was left behind, orders were given to all the batteries, and to all the ships that were in the harbour, to fire at the little vessel which was seen taking to flight. this only added to the uproar and confusion, and terror of the inhabitants of the town, who could not divine or imagine what enemies were assailing them, or what all this frightful clamour could mean.
meanwhile the love-sick maiden sinforosa, who was utterly ignorant of the cause of all this disturbance, made her way with hurried and trembling steps to the top of one of the highest towers in the palace, which seemed likely to be safe from the fire that was consuming the rest of the building. her sister polycarpa went to shut herself up with her, and then she told her how their guests had fled; on hearing this news, sinforosa fainted away, which made polycarpa repent of what she had done.
morning dawned at last—welcome to those who hoped to discover with the daylight the cause of the calamity,—but in the bosom of king polycarp was darkest night, and the deepest sadness that can be imagined. zenotia wrung her hands, and cursed her deceiving art, and the promises of her accursed masters. poor sinforosa still lay in her swoon, whilst her sister wept over her and lamented her sorrows, but continued to use every effort to restore her to life and sense. at last she revived, and casting her eyes towards the sea, she saw the vessel which bore away the other half of her soul, or at least its better part, and like another dido deceived and abandoned, complaining of another fugitive eneas, she sighed, wept, and cried aloud in such words as these; "o lovely guest, who hast come to these shores for my misfortune; thou hast never deceived me, it is true, for i have never been happy enough to hear words of love from thee that might have beguiled me; oh, that i could slacken thy sails, and arrest thy speed, so that these eyes might yet a little longer space behold thy ship, the very sight of which is consolation, since it containeth thee. alas! my lord, thou fliest from one who would fain follow thee. thou hatest one who adores thee; i who am daughter of a king, would gladly be thy slave. the flames that burn this city, if thou wouldst return, might serve as an illumination to show our joy; i have riches safely placed where the fire cannot touch them, for heaven will preserve them for thee." then she would turn to her sister, and say, "dost not thou think, my polycarpa, that the ship slackens in her course? seemeth it not to thee that she sails less swiftly? ah, heavens! if he should have repented."
"alas, my sister," answered polycarpa, "deceive not thyself, our wishes often go hand in hand with delusions. the ship sails on, and thy desires have no power to detain her as thou thinkest, but rather the breath of thy continual sighing impels her on her way."
and now came unto them the king, who, like his daughter, wished to gaze from the high tower upon the vessel which was bearing away, not half, but all his heart's delight. she was, however, no longer visible. those who had lit up the conflagration by his orders had now to extinguish it. the citizens learnt the cause of the disturbance, and the folly of their sovereign, also the evil counsels and intrigues of the sorceress zenotia. on that same day they deposed him from the throne, and condemned her to be hanged. sinforosa and polycarpa were treated with the same respect as before, and their fortunes were equal to their merits, although sinforosa did not obtain the happiness she sought, for higher still was the fortune that awaited periander.
meanwhile the fugitives on board the little vessel finding themselves all safe together and free, were never weary of returning thanks to heaven for their successful escape. they were informed afterwards of the treacherous designs of polycarp, but the horror they felt at his treason was not so great but that they could find some excuse for him, in that it had been caused by love,—love which forms the excuse of so many errors, since when once that passion gains entire possession of a heart, no power can restrain it, and it sets all reason at defiance.
the weather was fine, and though the wind was fresh, the sea was tranquil. they steered their course for england, where they intended to decide upon what plan would be best for them to pursue, and their voyage was so peaceful and prosperous, that no fear or suspicion of evil came across them. for three days this calm endured, and during three days the wind was fair, but on the fourth, it began to blow hard, and the sea to rage, so that the mariners feared a great tempest was at hand. the uncertainty of life is well typified by the sea, in each we cannot promise ourselves security or endurance in anything long; however, it pleased heaven that just when they were beginning to be alarmed, they perceived that they were near an island, which the mariners immediately knew, and said, that it was called "the hermit's isle," and that it possessed two bays capable of sheltering twenty vessels and more, from all winds; they were, in fact, as good as harbours. they added, moreover, that in one of the hermitages there lived a hermit, who had once been a french gentleman of good family, called renato; and that in the other hermitage lived a french lady, called eusebia, and that the history of these two persons was one of the most remarkable ever heard of.
a curiosity to see these hermits joined to the necessity of sheltering from the storm, made all desirous of going directly to the island; they, therefore, steered for it straight, and entered one of the little bays, where they anchored unquestioned by anybody; and arnoldo having ascertained that the isle contained no inhabitants except the hermits alluded to, ordered the boat to be made ready to land auristella, and the others who were much fatigued with their voyage, and also maurice, rutilio, and periander, who thought it would be best for them to pass the night on shore, that they might rest in peace after the motion of the waves. it was also agreed that antonio and his son, and ladislaus, should remain in the ship, as they had not as yet had sufficient experience of the mariners to know if they were to be trusted implicitly; it was therefore decided that they should stay with the seamen, to whom no land is so pleasant as the planks of their ship, and sweeter to them is the scent of oil and fish, pitch and tar, than to others would be the odours of the most fragrant flowers of the garden.
under a rock, sheltered from the wind, they settled themselves for the night, making a fire with some branches and bits of wood they found about, to keep themselves warm; and all the party being pretty well accustomed to such shifts as these, past the night pleasantly enough, and the more so, as periander, being urged by transila to take this opportunity of concluding his story, and her entreaty followed up by the general voice, went on in the following words.
