sinibald, renato's brother, arrives with good news from france. he comes to convey renato and eusebia home, and takes in his ship, arnoldo, maurice, transila, and ladislaus. in the other vessel, periander, auristella, the two antonios, ricla, and constance, embark for spain, and rutilio remains behind in the hermitage.

i do not know that i can positively affirm that maurice, and some others among his hearers, were glad when periander came to the end of his history; but very often those extremely long stories, although they may be of great importance, are nevertheless somewhat tiresome. it is even possible that auristella was herself of this opinion, for she was not disposed to follow up his hint and begin the story of her adventures, although they could not have been many between the period of her being carried off from arnoldo, and her being discovered by periander in the barbarous isle, yet still she wished to wait for some other opportunity; and as it happened, she would have been prevented if she had wished it, for a ship in full sail appeared in the open sea, evidently making for the island; and very soon she had entered one of the little bays already described, and was recognized by renato, who said, "this, sirs, is the ship in which my servants and friends occasionally visit me;" and, in fact, they heard the singing out of the seamen, as they let go their anchor, and a boat full of people directly after left the ship, and made for the shore, where renato and all his guests were awaiting them. about twenty persons landed, among whom was one of noble appearance, who seemed master of the rest. as soon as he saw renato, he came up to him with open arms, saying, "embrace me, brother, in reward for the good news i bring you!" renato embraced him, for he had recognised his brother sinibald, and he said, "no news can be pleasanter to me, dear brother, than your presence, for there is nothing that can give me joy in my unhappy situation, only the sight of thee is always an exception to the common rule of my misfortunes." sinibald then turned to embrace eusebia, saying, "you too, lady, must permit me to embrace you, for you also owe me a reward for the news i bring, and i will delay no longer telling you what it is, to put you out of suspense. know, then, that your enemy is dead, of an illness, which deprived him for several days of speech, but heaven mercifully restored it for a few hours before he died, during which space he expressed a deep repentance, and confessed the sin he had committed of having falsely accused you. he confessed that envy and jealousy were the cause, and finally made all the declarations possible to avow his crime. he said it was owing to the hidden secrets of providence that his unjust cause had gained the victory over your good one, and was not satisfied only with this spoken confession, but had a written declaration and acknowledgment made, which he signed; and when this became known to the king, he also had a similar instrument published, openly declaring your innocence and untarnished honour, and also acknowledging eusebia's perfect innocence and purity. he then gave orders to have you sought for, and when found, to bring you into his presence, that he might try and make you some amends for all you have suffered, by ample and magnificent bounties. if these are tidings likely to give you pleasure or no, i leave to your own consideration."

"they are such," said arnoldo, "that nothing else in life can surpass, nor any acquisition of the most unhoped for riches approach; for honour lost, and so fully and perfectly restored, is a blessing the whole earth can never offer the equal of. may you, my lord renato, enjoy it for many long years, and may the peerless eusebia enjoy it with you, like the ivy to the wall, the mirror of your delight and the pattern of virtue and excellence."

then all the others, though in different words, paid the like compliments to the hermits, and afterwards proceeded to inquire what news there was in europe, or in other places, which they, having been so long on the seas, were ignorant of.

sinibald answered, "that the news most talked of was, the calamity which threatened the old king of denmark, by means of the king of norway, and other allies who favoured him." he also told how people murmured that by the absence of the prince arnoldo, the heir of denmark, his father was in danger of losing his crown. it was said of the prince, that he was fluttering, butterfly-like, in the sunshine of the bright eyes of some fair captive of his, so utterly unknown as to family and birth, that no one knew whose daughter she was. he told also of wars in transylvania, and of some movements made by the turks, the common enemy of the human race. he also gave an account of the glorious death[l] of charles the fifth, king of spain, and emperor of the romans,—the terror of all the enemies of the church, and dread of the followers of mahomet. other matters he spoke of, more trifling, some amusing, and some surprising, all of which gave great satisfaction to everybody except the pensive arnoldo, who, from the moment that he heard of his father's trouble, sat with his cheek resting in his hand, and his eyes fixed on the ground. after remaining in this attitude for a considerable space, he raised his eyes from the earth and looked up towards heaven, saying aloud, "o love! o honour! o filial duty! what a struggle ye make within my soul! love, if i depart and leave thee, can i be forgiven? honour, ought i to cease to follow thee, because i love. thou, o my father, desirest my return, and ye, my vassals, expect me; for love does not render a man a coward, nor will i prove myself one in defending you, although i am the most enamoured of all mortal men. for my peerless auristella's sake i go to regain that which is mine own; for being a king i may seem more deserving of her than i can hope to be simply as a lover. the poor suitor unfavoured by fortune's gifts, has little chance; as a king i may pretend to her, as a king i may serve her, as a simple lover i can only adore her; but should i fail with all united to win her, i shall blame my own ill fate, and not her."

all the bystanders were much surprised at hearing these words from arnoldo; but the most astonished of them was sinibald. maurice had told him that this was the prince of denmark, and had pointed out auristella as the captive by whom he was said to be enslaved. sinibald looked more particularly at her, and instantly decided that what had been called madness, in arnoldo, was very good sense, for the beauty of auristella, as i have often said before, was such, that it won the hearts of everybody who looked upon it, and therein found sufficient excuse for every fault or folly committed for her sake.

it was now decided that renato and eusebia should return to france, and take arnoldo with them in their vessel, to leave him in his own country. he wished maurice, transila, and ladislaus, to go with him, and that periander and auristella, the two antonios, and ricla and constance should proceed to spain in the vessel they had come in, and continue their voyage as they had desired. rutilio was expecting to hear to which division he should belong; but before anything was settled, he went up to renato, and kneeling before him, entreated that he would make him heir to his property in this island, and permit him to stay behind there, in order that there might never fail one to tend the light, which served as a guide to mariners: for here it was his wish to end well, a life that had hitherto not been a very good one. his christian-like petition met with a general approval, and the good renato, who was as kind as he was generous, granted all he desired, saying that he only wished the property he left was of more value, seeing it consisted only of the necessaries of life.

arnoldo promised that if he found things tolerably peaceful in his own country, he would send a ship yearly to his assistance. rutilio would fain have thrown himself at the feet of his protectors and friends, but they would not suffer it, and embraced him; many of them even wept to see the pious disposition of the new hermit, for although we may not be ourselves prepared to lead new lives and amend our ways, it nevertheless gives us pleasure to see others do so, unless our stubbornness has arrived at such a pitch that we desire to see all fall into the same abyss as ourselves.

two days were spent in arranging and preparing for the voyages, and at the final parting they all took affectionate farewells of one another, especially arnoldo, periander, and auristella: although there was great warmth in arnoldo's manner, and although the excess of his affection was very evident, yet it was expressed in so graceful and delicate a way, that it did not offend periander. transila wept, nor were the eyes of old maurice dry, nor those of ladislaus; ricla sighed, and constance was much affected, whilst her father and brother did not remain unmoved: rutilio, already arrayed in his hermit robe, went from one to another, bidding adieu to each, and mingling his sobs and tears with theirs. at length, invited by the calm weather and favouring gales, (for the wind served equally well for both the voyages,) they embarked, set sail, and rutilio, from the hermitage hill, watched their departure, and followed them with a thousand blessings.

and here the author of this wandering story ends his second book.