Muzzio had said of him that in losing his tongue, this Malay had made a great sacrifice, and in return he was now possessed of great power. What sort of power? and how could he have obtained it at the price of his tongue? All this was very strange! very incomprehensible! Fabio went into his wife’s room; she was lying on the bed, dressed, but was not asleep. Hearing his steps, she started, then again seemed delighted to see him just as in the garden. Fabio sat down beside the bed, took Valeria by the hand, and after a short silence, asked her, ‘What was the extraordinary dream that had frightened her so the previous night? And was it the same sort at all as the dream Muzzio had described?’ Valeria crimsoned and said hurriedly: ‘O! no! no! I saw ... a sort of monster which was trying to tear me to pieces.’ ‘A monster? in the shape of a man?’ asked Fabio. ‘No, a beast ... a beast!’ Valeria turned away and hid her burning face in the pillows. Fabio held his wife’s hand some time longer; silently he raised it to his lips, and withdrew. Both the young people passed that day with heavy hearts. Something dark seemed hanging over their heads ... but what it was, they could not tell. They wanted to be together, as though some danger threatened them; but what to say to one another they did not know. Fabio made an effort to take up the portrait, and to read Ariosto, whose poem had appeared not long before in Ferrara, and was now making a noise all over Italy; but nothing was of any use.... Late in the evening, just at supper-time, Muzzio returned. VII