How sad was the prospect! treachery and alarm were succeeding to enthusiasm and boldness: one by one, their firmest and dearest friends were torn from them; and Kara Aziek looked at Sebastian with an expression of piercing pain, as she thought for a moment, that ere a little while, they might possess only each other in the world. Times of rousing anxiety, times in which our fortunes, our comforts, nay, our very existence, stand on the fate of a moment, are not the periods in which the soul surrenders itself to lamentation: but frequently when solicitude for one object is united with regret for another, we yield to a gloomy sadness, that tinctures every thing with the same hue, and renders the sufferer inaccessible to one cheering emotion. Aziek and Sebastian indulged not in sorrow, though it might be said to embue their whole being: they tacitly agreed to give their private hours to the memory of him they lamented, and when together, to converse but on such topics as might benefit them by consultation. Signor Valdorno’s indulgence tempted Aziek to suggest a hope, that by his connivance they might escape from Venice, and she eagerly gave it utterance. Sebastian returned a glance of surprize and concern: “What, my beloved!” he exclaimed, “would you have me the assassin of my own honour? To fly, would be to avow myself the impostor they would willingly prove me: no--I am resolved to wait the scrutiny I will never cease demanding. If they suffer me to wear out my days in this obscurity, posterity will do me justice, and own that I must have been the true King of Portugal: but if I basely fly, history will rank me with those miserable madmen who usurped my name, and perished in their folly. Trust still in Heaven, my Aziek; my soul is anchored there.” His eyes raised and filled with virtuous confidence, infused some of their own energy into those of Kara Aziek; she smiled through tears, and the glow which spread over her face, assured him that their feelings were in unison. Meanwhile the good Sampayo hastened to renew his solicitations to the Doge and senators: the rank and character of his master would not permit the Venetians to hazard refusing him admittance to their council. He was admitted, together with Juan De Castro and Father Texere, who came to present remonstrances from England and France. Having briefly stated their request, Sampayo concluded thus. “My lords! I neither assert nor deny the identity of this man, who proclaims himself Don Sebastian of Portugal; I merely come from his noble kinsman, to ascertain his truth or to detect his falsehood. I come provided with a minute description of the person and bodily marks of Don Sebastian; all of which deposed to by his foster-brother and his confidential servant, now dwelling at Lisbon: I come accompanied by divers persons, all well acquainted with various minute circumstances, upon which they are ready to question him publicly, so to establish or to disprove his assertions.